Hardy Reed LLC Increases Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Hardy Reed LLC grew its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 16.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,133 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,578 shares during the period. Hardy Reed LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 11.0% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 3.2% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 71,794,056 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,008,798,000 after acquiring an additional 2,241,609 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in Pfizer by 0.6% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $486,762,000 after purchasing an additional 100,900 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 456,168 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Pfizer by 4.1% during the third 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 period. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pfizer

In related news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $282,400. This trade represents a 11.11 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Pfizer Stock Down 1.6 %

PFE stock opened at $25.76 on Wednesday. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.48 and a 12 month high of $31.54. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $28.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $145.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.67.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The firm had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.17) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.52%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Pfizer’s payout ratio is 227.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PFE. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com lowered Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Evercore ISI upgraded Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Friday, October 25th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.92.

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.