Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Invests $207,000 in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 7,815 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. 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 acquiring an additional 12,864,343 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Pfizer by 28.5% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 21,286,805 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $564,739,000 after buying an additional 4,726,549 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its position in Pfizer by 164.2% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 7,316,405 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $211,737,000 after buying an additional 4,546,809 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Pfizer by 226.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,209,907 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $179,715,000 after acquiring an additional 4,309,076 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pfizer news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock bought 19,457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 27,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $710,684.55. The trade was a 235.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PFE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group cut 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. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com lowered Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Pfizer has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.92.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of PFE stock opened at $26.67 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $151.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.48 and a 52 week high of $31.54. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $26.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.38.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. Pfizer’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.45%. This is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s payout ratio is currently 121.99%.

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.