Ameriprise Financial Inc. Sells 5,299,962 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) by 26.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,862,236 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 5,299,962 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 0.26% of Pfizer worth $394,288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of PFE. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Pfizer by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 518,535,151 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $13,756,738,000 after acquiring an additional 2,285,276 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 155,459,101 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $4,124,330,000 after acquiring an additional 25,315,159 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Pfizer by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 120,589,782 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $3,190,131,000 after purchasing an additional 2,923,537 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Pfizer in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,328,986,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 76,502,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $2,029,604,000 after buying an additional 5,350,381 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company's stock.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of Pfizer stock traded down $0.95 on Tuesday, reaching $22.92. 60,727,463 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 40,495,405. Pfizer Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.92 and a 1-year 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. The company's 50-day moving average is $24.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.67. The firm has a market cap of $129.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.58.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.25. Pfizer had a net margin of 12.62% and a return on equity of 19.47%. The firm had revenue of $13.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.43 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.82 EPS. Pfizer's quarterly revenue was down 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.51%. Pfizer's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 124.64%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock purchased 19,457 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 27,707 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $710,684.55. This represents a 235.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PFE. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Pfizer from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Pfizer to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $24.00 target price for the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Pfizer currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $29.17.

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.