Diversify Advisory Services LLC Lowers Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Diversify Advisory Services LLC lowered its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 86.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,110 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 352,076 shares during the quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,446,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of PFE. State Street Corp lifted its position in Pfizer by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 290,460,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,405,930,000 after buying an additional 3,405,539 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Pfizer by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 130,143,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,766,366,000 after buying an additional 12,864,343 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Pfizer by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 117,666,245 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,392,342,000 after buying an additional 1,855,419 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 6,977,587 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on PFE shares. Citigroup assumed coverage on Pfizer in a report on Friday, October 25th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial lowered their price target 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. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Pfizer has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.00.

Insider Activity at Pfizer

In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb acquired 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $282,400. This represents a 11.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Pfizer Price Performance

PFE opened at $26.30 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $26.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.99. Pfizer Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.48 and a 52-week high of $31.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The company has a market cap 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 (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The firm had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.17) EPS. Pfizer’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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 payout ratio is 227.03%.

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.