Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Raises Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Key Points

• Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. significantly increased its stake in Pfizer Inc. by 879.9% in the first quarter, holding a total of 76,582 shares valued at approximately $1.94 million.
• Several institutions, including Clarity Asset Management and Gould Capital, have also made recent investments in Pfizer, with 68.36% of the stock now owned by institutional investors.
• Pfizer's stock has been rated mostly as a "hold," with an average target price of $28.55, and the company reported a 7.8% year-over-year revenue decline despite beating EPS estimates in its latest earnings announcement.

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. grew its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) by 879.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 76,582 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after acquiring an additional 68,767 shares during the quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.'s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,941,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PFE. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 11.1% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 132,478 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $3,358,000 after buying an additional 13,228 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Inc. OK lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 1,413,472 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $35,817,000 after purchasing an additional 17,032 shares in the last quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp bought a new position in Pfizer during the 1st quarter valued at $8,283,000. Alta Advisers Ltd increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 69.6% during the 1st quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd now owns 31,912 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $809,000 after purchasing an additional 13,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Pfizer by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 125,964 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $3,176,000 after acquiring an additional 10,051 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America upped their target price on Pfizer from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup raised their target price on Pfizer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Pfizer from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Berenberg Bank reduced their price objective on Pfizer from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their target price on Pfizer from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pfizer presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $28.55.

Pfizer Stock Down 0.6%

PFE traded down $0.16 on Wednesday, hitting $24.15. 13,393,927 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 45,076,000. Pfizer Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.92 and a twelve month high of $31.32. The company has a market cap of $137.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $24.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.63.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $13.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.43 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 12.62%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.82 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 25th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.12%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 25th. Pfizer's payout ratio is 124.64%.

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.