Old North State Wealth Management LLC Purchases 15,194 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Old North State Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 23.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 79,441 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 15,194 shares during the period. Old North State Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $2,109,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Pfizer Stock Down 1.2 %

PFE stock opened at $25.88 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company has a market capitalization of $146.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.97, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.48 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $26.27 and a 200-day moving average of $27.82.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The business had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.10 EPS. Pfizer’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.65%. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s payout ratio is currently 232.44%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on PFE. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.92.

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.