Sapient Capital LLC Has $13.79 Million Stock Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Sapient Capital LLC decreased its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 46.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 519,845 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 447,066 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $13,791,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its stake in Pfizer by 26.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 55,267 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,599,000 after buying an additional 11,519 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pfizer in the third quarter valued at approximately $354,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 117.0% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 69,178 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,002,000 after purchasing an additional 37,293 shares during the period. Willis Investment Counsel lifted its holdings in Pfizer by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 1,297,206 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $37,541,000 after purchasing an additional 6,966 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH boosted its stake in Pfizer by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 2,286,226 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $66,163,000 after purchasing an additional 233,900 shares during the period. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on PFE shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com cut shares of Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.92.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of PFE stock opened at $25.87 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.72. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $24.48 and a one year high of $31.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.58 billion, a PE ratio of 18.34, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This is a positive change from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.65%. 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.