HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 133,130 Shares of Pfizer Inc. $PFE

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its Pfizer stake by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 133,130 shares and leaving it with 2.61 million shares valued at about $65 million.
• Pfizer’s recent earnings beat expectations, with Q1 EPS of $0.75 versus $0.72 estimated and revenue of $14.45 billion, up 5.4% year over year.
• Investor focus remains on Pfizer’s pipeline, especially a 25-strain pneumococcal vaccine that moved into pivotal testing and broader oncology growth efforts, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus Hold with a $28.61 average target.

HighTower Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,611,610 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 133,130 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in Pfizer were worth $65,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Triad Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Pfizer by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Triad Wealth Partners LLC now owns 20,466 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $510,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. ETF Store Inc. increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. ETF Store Inc. now owns 10,913 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $272,000 after buying an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,161 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $228,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,430 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $235,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 46,380 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,155,000 after buying an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Pfizer News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Pfizer this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Pfizer advanced its new 25-strain pneumococcal vaccine into pivotal testing after strong Phase 2 infant data showed a much stronger immune response than Prevnar 20, raising the chance of a future growth driver. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Pfizer also highlighted long-term oncology expansion around Padcev, biosimilars, and late-stage pipeline assets, which could help offset pressure from legacy drugs and improve future revenue visibility. Zacks article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles repeated the same pipeline themes, reinforcing investor attention on vaccine and oncology programs rather than introducing entirely new developments. Business Wire article
• Neutral Sentiment: One commentary piece compared Pfizer’s dividend and valuation profile with Johnson & Johnson, noting PFE’s low valuation and high yield but also weaker consistency versus JNJ; this may support income-focused investors, but it is not a direct operating catalyst. Seeking Alpha article
• Negative Sentiment: The J&J comparison underscores ongoing concerns about Pfizer’s relative growth consistency, suggesting the stock may still trade at a discount until management proves the pipeline can deliver more durable earnings growth. Seeking Alpha article

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Pfizer from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Daiwa Securities Group cut shares of Pfizer from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Pfizer from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, HSBC raised their target price on shares of Pfizer from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $28.61.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of Pfizer stock opened at $25.78 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $146.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.68 and a beta of 0.35. The stock's 50-day moving average is $26.91 and its 200-day moving average is $26.22. Pfizer Inc. has a one year low of $22.81 and a one year high of $28.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $14.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.84 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.44% and a net margin of 11.83%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.92 earnings per share. Pfizer has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.800-3.000 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 8th. Pfizer's payout ratio is 131.30%.

About Pfizer

Pfizer Inc NYSE: PFE is a multinational biopharmaceutical company headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1849 by Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart, the company researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes a broad range of medicines and vaccines for human health. Its activities span discovery research, clinical development, regulatory affairs, manufacturing and global commercial distribution across multiple therapeutic areas.

Pfizer's portfolio and pipeline cover oncology, immunology, cardiology, endocrinology, rare diseases, hospital acute care and anti-infectives, along with a substantial vaccine business.

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