Arkadios Wealth Advisors Trims Stock Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Arkadios Wealth Advisors cut its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) by 8.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 163,190 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 15,401 shares during the quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors' holdings in Pfizer were worth $4,329,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 290,460,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $8,405,930,000 after purchasing an additional 3,405,539 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Pfizer by 11.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 130,143,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $3,766,366,000 after buying an additional 12,864,343 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 117,666,245 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $3,392,342,000 after acquiring an additional 1,855,419 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $1,101,713,000 after acquiring an additional 6,977,587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 0.6% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $486,762,000 after acquiring an additional 100,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PFE. Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group cut their price objective 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. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $32.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb acquired 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were bought 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 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Pfizer Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Pfizer stock traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $26.30. The stock had a trading volume of 35,146,711 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,869,448. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.48 and a 1 year high of $31.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.00.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.17) earnings per share. Pfizer's revenue was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The business 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 an increase from Pfizer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. Pfizer's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.