Guardian Investment Management Sells 3,810 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Guardian Investment Management cut its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 18.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 16,542 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 3,810 shares during the quarter. Guardian Investment Management’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $436,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Pfizer by 0.6% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $486,762,000 after acquiring an additional 100,900 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 11.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 12,864,343 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased 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 valued at $14,709,000 after purchasing an additional 227,349 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Pfizer by 394.2% in the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 52,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,512,000 after buying an additional 41,668 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of Pfizer by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,105,433 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $89,872,000 after buying an additional 639,985 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pfizer

In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of Pfizer stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $282,400. The trade was a 11.11 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Stock Down 0.7 %

PFE opened at $26.30 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $26.08 and a 200-day moving average of $27.99. The company has a market capitalization of $149.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.48 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54. 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 (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.42. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The business had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.17) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.54%. 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. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 227.03%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on PFE shares. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a report on Friday, October 25th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com lowered Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Evercore ISI upgraded Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.00.

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.