Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Sells 48,895 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Key Points

• The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board reduced its stake in Pfizer Inc. by 78.3%, selling 48,895 shares to hold 13,561 shares valued at $344,000.
• Pfizer's quarterly earnings showed strong results with an EPS of $0.78, surpassing analysts' expectations, and revenues of $14.65 billion, a 10.3% increase from the previous year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.43 per share, yielding 7.0%, with a payout ratio of 91.49%.

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board reduced its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) by 78.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,561 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 48,895 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board's holdings in Pfizer were worth $344,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFE. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 1,282.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 666,318 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $17,677,000 after acquiring an additional 618,117 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 18,766 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $498,000 after acquiring an additional 2,087 shares in the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 206,886 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $5,489,000 after acquiring an additional 40,193 shares in the last quarter. NFP Retirement Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. NFP Retirement Inc. now owns 7,920 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $210,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its position in Pfizer by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,665,404 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $44,189,000 after buying an additional 35,315 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on PFE. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Pfizer from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. HSBC lowered their target price on shares of Pfizer from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 19th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Leerink Partners lowered their target price on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on Pfizer from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $28.12.

Pfizer Stock Performance

PFE stock traded up $0.03 during trading on Monday, reaching $24.61. 38,065,234 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 46,565,748. Pfizer Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.92 and a twelve month high of $30.43. The company has a market capitalization of $139.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.20. Pfizer had a return on equity of 21.42% and a net margin of 16.84%. The business had revenue of $14.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.43 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, July 25th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 25th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.0%. Pfizer's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 91.49%.

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.