Enterprise Financial Services Corp Reduces Stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Enterprise Financial Services Corp reduced its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 17.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 19,951 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 4,232 shares during the period. Enterprise Financial Services Corp’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $529,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its position in Pfizer by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 290,460,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,405,930,000 after buying an additional 3,405,539 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 19.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 155,459,101 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,124,330,000 after purchasing an additional 25,315,159 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 117,666,245 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,392,342,000 after purchasing an additional 1,855,419 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 22.4% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 38,068,879 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,101,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,977,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 21,286,805 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $564,739,000 after purchasing an additional 4,726,549 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on PFE shares. UBS Group reduced 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. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $33.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a report on Monday, February 10th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Pfizer in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Citigroup reduced 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.92.

Pfizer Stock Performance

PFE opened at $26.71 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $151.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.61. Pfizer Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.48 and a 1-year high of $31.54. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $26.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

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

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th were paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. This is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.44%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is 121.99%.

Insider Transactions at Pfizer

In other news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock purchased 19,457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $25.65 per share, for a total transaction of $499,072.05. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $710,684.55. The trade was a 235.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Pfizer 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.