Waverton Investment Management Ltd Sells 9,680 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Waverton Investment Management Ltd decreased its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 22.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 33,944 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 9,680 shares during the period. Waverton Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $982,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PFE. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 71,794,056 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,008,798,000 after purchasing an additional 2,241,609 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,560,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $477,929,000 after purchasing an additional 456,168 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,553,997 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $479,073,000 after purchasing an additional 658,420 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 14,923,545 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $417,561,000 after purchasing an additional 470,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 11,516,769 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $333,295,000 after purchasing an additional 1,762,520 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PFE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Pfizer from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Daiwa America raised Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pfizer currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.58.

Pfizer Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of PFE stock opened at $26.24 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $148.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.46, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $28.89 and a 200-day moving average of $28.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Pfizer Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.20 and a 1-year high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.42. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The company had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.17) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.40%. Pfizer’s payout ratio is currently 227.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $282,400. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.