Investors Research Corp Sells 11,382 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Investors Research Corp lowered its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 27.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 30,823 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 11,382 shares during the period. Investors Research Corp’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $818,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PFE. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Pfizer during the fourth quarter worth approximately $274,694,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 6,977,587 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Pfizer by 79.5% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,148,116 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $295,760,000 after acquiring an additional 4,938,209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 4,726,549 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock bought 19,457 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 27,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $710,684.55. This represents a 235.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on PFE. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.92.

Pfizer Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of PFE opened at $26.71 on Monday. Pfizer Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.48 and a 1-year high of $31.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.94, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $26.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

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

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.44%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 121.99%.

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.