Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 14,200 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System cut its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 304,800 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 14,200 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $8,086,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in Pfizer by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. now owns 123,186 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,268,000 after acquiring an additional 4,152 shares during the last quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Pfizer in the 4th quarter valued at $470,000. Reik & CO. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 29.0% during the 4th quarter. Reik & CO. LLC now owns 33,336 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $883,000 after purchasing an additional 7,500 shares during the last quarter. Edmp Inc. raised its position in Pfizer by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. Edmp Inc. now owns 13,532 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $359,000 after purchasing an additional 2,252 shares during the period. Finally, Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Pfizer in the fourth quarter worth $922,000. 68.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on PFE. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Pfizer in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price objective on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pfizer has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.92.

Pfizer Price Performance

PFE stock opened at $25.53 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Pfizer Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.48 and a 1 year high of $31.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $26.28 and a 200 day moving average of $27.69. The company has a market cap of $144.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.11, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given 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 6.74%. This is a positive change from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 121.99%.

Pfizer 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.