Legacy Capital Group California Inc. Acquires 5,093 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Legacy Capital Group California Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 34.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,815 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,093 shares during the quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $526,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 11.0% in the third 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. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Pfizer by 22.4% in the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 6,977,587 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Pfizer in the 3rd quarter worth $146,481,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Pfizer by 28.5% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 21,286,805 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $564,739,000 after purchasing an additional 4,726,549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 164.2% in the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 7,316,405 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $211,737,000 after purchasing an additional 4,546,809 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PFE. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price target for the company. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Pfizer presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock acquired 19,457 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $710,684.55. The trade was a 235.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Pfizer Stock Down 0.1 %

Pfizer stock opened at $25.86 on Friday. Pfizer Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.48 and a twelve month high of $31.54. The stock has a market cap of $146.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $26.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.00 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 return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. The business had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.65%. This is a positive change from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.