Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 21.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 115,225 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 31,044 shares during the quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $3,057,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Pfizer by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 290,460,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,405,930,000 after buying an additional 3,405,539 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 130,143,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,766,366,000 after acquiring an additional 12,864,343 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Pfizer by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 117,666,245 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,392,342,000 after acquiring an additional 1,855,419 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Pfizer by 22.4% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 38,068,879 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,101,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,977,587 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its stake in Pfizer by 0.6% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $486,762,000 after purchasing an additional 100,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Trading Down 0.4 %

PFE opened at $26.65 on Thursday. Pfizer Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.48 and a 12-month high of $31.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.00 billion, a PE ratio of 36.01, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $26.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.91.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.17) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 227.03%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their target price on Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.92.

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.