Becker Capital Management Inc. Cuts Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Becker Capital Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) by 8.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 867,855 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 85,268 shares during the quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Pfizer were worth $23,024,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Passumpsic Savings Bank increased its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 8.4% during the third quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 25,680 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $743,000 after acquiring an additional 1,998 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Pfizer during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,499,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Pfizer by 7.7% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,008 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $404,000 after buying an additional 1,004 shares during the last quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 8.4% in the third quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,515 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $246,000 after buying an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Pfizer during the third quarter valued at about $2,649,000. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PFE. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised Pfizer to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $25.00 price objective (down from $32.00) on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Pfizer from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $29.64.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of Pfizer stock traded up $0.26 on Friday, hitting $24.19. 41,672,273 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 40,568,476. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $24.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.82. Pfizer Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.92 and a 12-month high of $31.54. The company has a market cap of $137.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.67.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $13.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.43 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. Pfizer's revenue for the quarter was down 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The firm 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 of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.11%. Pfizer's payout ratio is 124.64%.

Insider Transactions at Pfizer

In related news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock acquired 19,457 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.65 per share, for a total transaction of $499,072.05. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $710,684.55. This represents a 235.84 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.