Stephens Inc. AR Sells 31,410 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Stephens Inc. AR trimmed its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 346,879 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 31,410 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $9,203,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its stake in Pfizer by 26.3% in the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 55,267 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,599,000 after acquiring an additional 11,519 shares during the period. Retirement Planning Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pfizer in the 3rd quarter worth about $354,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 117.0% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 69,178 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,002,000 after purchasing an additional 37,293 shares in the last quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pfizer during the third quarter valued at about $4,370,000. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Pfizer by 17.7% in the third quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 15,378 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $445,000 after buying an additional 2,311 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on PFE shares. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. 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. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.92.

Pfizer Stock Performance

PFE stock opened at $25.76 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $145.96 billion, a PE ratio of 18.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.73. Pfizer Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.48 and a 12-month high of $31.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 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 analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. Pfizer’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.10 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast 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 issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.68%. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.