Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Raises Stock Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 9.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 334,663 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 30,186 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $8,879,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Pfizer by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,745,831 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $166,284,000 after buying an additional 37,636 shares during the last quarter. United Bank lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 35,599 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 1,277 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc increased its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 300,430 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,694,000 after buying an additional 3,243 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Pfizer in the 3rd quarter valued at $233,000. Finally, Baker Avenue Asset Management LP boosted its position in Pfizer by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 32,860 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $951,000 after buying an additional 2,738 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFE has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Monday, February 10th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Pfizer has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.92.

Pfizer Price Performance

NYSE PFE opened at $26.62 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.88, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $26.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.21. Pfizer Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.48 and a 52 week high of $31.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

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

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th were given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.46%. Pfizer’s payout ratio is 121.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pfizer news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock purchased 19,457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $710,684.55. This trade represents a 235.84 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.