Verity & Verity LLC Sells 58,323 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Verity & Verity LLC reduced its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 8.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 613,031 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 58,323 shares during the period. Pfizer accounts for 1.5% of Verity & Verity LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $16,264,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC now owns 14,361 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $416,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the period. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Pfizer by 0.7% in the third quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 49,216 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,424,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. lifted its position in Pfizer by 0.9% during the third quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 42,677 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,235,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the period. PSI Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 27,823 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $738,000 after buying an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Pfizer by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 26,530 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $742,000 after buying an additional 386 shares during the period. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on PFE. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI raised Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial cut their target price on 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 lowered Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Pfizer currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pfizer

In other Pfizer news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $282,400. The trade was a 11.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Stock Down 0.7 %

PFE opened at $26.30 on Friday. Pfizer Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.48 and a 1-year high of $31.54. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The company has a market capitalization of $149.06 billion, a PE ratio of 35.55, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its 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. The company had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. Pfizer’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.17) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.54%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 227.03%.

About Pfizer

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.