Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Purchases 47,279 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC lifted its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 8.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 601,624 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 47,279 shares during the period. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $15,961,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Pfizer by 0.6% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $486,762,000 after purchasing an additional 100,900 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 11.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 130,143,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,766,366,000 after acquiring an additional 12,864,343 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 80.9% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 508,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $14,709,000 after acquiring an additional 227,349 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 394.2% in the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 52,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,512,000 after acquiring an additional 41,668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 26.0% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,105,433 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $89,872,000 after acquiring an additional 639,985 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Pfizer Stock Up 1.3 %

Pfizer stock opened at $26.43 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $149.78 billion, a PE ratio of 18.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.00. Pfizer Inc. has a one year low of $24.48 and a one year high of $31.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $26.35 and a 200 day moving average of $27.33.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. Pfizer’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.10 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.51%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is presently 121.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on PFE shares. StockNews.com downgraded Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Pfizer in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock purchased 19,457 shares of Pfizer stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.65 per share, for a total transaction of $499,072.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares in the company, valued at $710,684.55. This represents a 235.84 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Company Profile

Pfizer Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells biopharmaceutical products in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company offers medicines and vaccines in various therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular metabolic, migraine, and women's health under the Eliquis, Nurtec ODT/Vydura, Zavzpret, and the Premarin family brands; infectious diseases with unmet medical needs under the Prevnar family, Abrysvo, Nimenrix, FSME/IMMUN-TicoVac, and Trumenba brands; and COVID-19 prevention and treatment, and potential future mRNA and antiviral products under the Comirnaty and Paxlovid brands.