Essex LLC Decreases Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Essex LLC reduced its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 72,725 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 4,440 shares during the quarter. Essex LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,929,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pfizer in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Gladius Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 102.8% during the 3rd quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 1,043 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 38,015 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in Pfizer in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Joseph Group Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 168.3% during the third quarter. Joseph Group Capital Management now owns 1,229 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Pfizer in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PFE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com lowered Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.92.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of PFE stock opened at $25.76 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $145.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.48 and a 12-month high of $31.54. The business’s 50 day moving average is $26.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.74. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 121.99%.

About Pfizer

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.