Harbor Investment Advisory LLC Sells 24,706 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lessened its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 62.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 14,567 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 24,706 shares during the quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $386,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 11.0% in the third 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 acquiring an additional 12,864,343 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in Pfizer by 279.3% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,378,173 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $150,481,000 after purchasing an additional 8,378,173 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 22.4% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 38,068,879 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,101,713,000 after buying an additional 6,977,587 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Pfizer in the 3rd quarter valued at $146,481,000. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its stake in Pfizer by 164.2% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 7,316,405 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $211,737,000 after buying an additional 4,546,809 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE PFE opened at $26.63 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. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.98. Pfizer Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.48 and a 1 year high of $31.54. The company has a market cap of $150.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.98, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.64.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The business’s revenue was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.17) earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This is a positive change 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 dividend yield of 6.46%. Pfizer’s payout ratio is presently 227.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $282,400. This represents a 11.11 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on PFE shares. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 target price on the stock. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price target for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their target price on Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given 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, Pfizer currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.00.

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.