Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Has $2.88 Million Stock Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) by 61.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 99,660 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 159,292 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Pfizer were worth $2,884,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 394.2% during the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 52,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,512,000 after acquiring an additional 41,668 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in Pfizer by 4.3% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 13,118,764 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $379,657,000 after purchasing an additional 544,418 shares in the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 742,875 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $20,786,000 after purchasing an additional 18,274 shares during the last quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Pfizer during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,972,000. Finally, Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lifted its stake in Pfizer by 2.4% in the third quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 1,168,315 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $33,811,000 after purchasing an additional 27,562 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on PFE shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Pfizer from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Pfizer in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Daiwa America raised Pfizer from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $33.58.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of PFE traded down $0.70 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $26.02. 43,752,656 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 37,804,309. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.67. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.20 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.46 billion, a PE ratio of 35.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.67. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.17) earnings per share. Pfizer's revenue was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Pfizer's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 227.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb bought 1,000 shares of Pfizer stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was purchased 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $282,400. This trade represents a 11.11 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

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.