Advocate Group LLC Acquires 12,548 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Advocate Group LLC grew its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 341,378 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 12,548 shares during the quarter. Pfizer makes up about 1.7% of Advocate Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Advocate Group LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $9,057,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Monte Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Pfizer by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Monte Financial Group LLC now owns 208,327 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,527,000 after buying an additional 12,883 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 1,109,832 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $29,444,000 after purchasing an additional 183,403 shares during the period. Curated Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 25.6% in the 4th quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC now owns 45,337 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,203,000 after purchasing an additional 9,236 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 76,250 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,023,000 after purchasing an additional 7,072 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 50,390 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,337,000 after purchasing an additional 4,183 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Pfizer news, Director Scott Gottlieb acquired 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $282,400. The trade was a 11.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on PFE. Evercore ISI upgraded Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.00.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of PFE opened at $26.10 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.27, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The business has a fifty day moving average of $26.11 and a 200 day moving average of $27.94. Pfizer Inc. has a one year low of $24.48 and a one year high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. Pfizer’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.17) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.59%. This is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. Pfizer’s payout ratio is presently 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.