Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. Buys 3,028 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. boosted its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 84,259 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,028 shares during the quarter. Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $2,235,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Investment Partners LTD. lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 20,616 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $547,000 after buying an additional 1,647 shares in the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation increased its holdings in Pfizer by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 916,746 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $24,321,000 after acquiring an additional 151,309 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in Pfizer by 30.2% in the 4th quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 206,279 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,492,000 after purchasing an additional 47,834 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Pfizer in the 4th quarter valued at $7,730,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of Pfizer by 36.3% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,825,952 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $48,442,000 after purchasing an additional 485,895 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $33.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.92.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PFE opened at $26.43 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market cap of $149.78 billion, a PE ratio of 18.74, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s fifty day moving average is $26.35 and its 200 day moving average is $27.32. Pfizer Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.48 and a 52 week high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. The company had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.10 EPS. Pfizer’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.51%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 121.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock purchased 19,457 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price 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 in the company, valued at approximately $710,684.55. The trade was a 235.84 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.