Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) Stake Increased by Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) by 49.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 423,230 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after purchasing an additional 139,215 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT's holdings in Pfizer were worth $11,228,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PFE. State Street Corp boosted 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 valued at $8,405,930,000 after buying an additional 3,405,539 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in 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. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Pfizer by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 117,666,245 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $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 grew its holdings in Pfizer by 22.4% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 6,977,587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 28.5% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 21,286,805 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $564,739,000 after purchasing an additional 4,726,549 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on PFE. 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 for the company. Evercore ISI upgraded Pfizer to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Pfizer from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pfizer presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $31.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pfizer

In related news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock bought 19,457 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $25.65 per share, for a total transaction of $499,072.05. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares of the company's stock, valued at $710,684.55. The trade was a 235.84 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of Pfizer stock traded up $0.42 during trading on Friday, hitting $26.32. The stock had a trading volume of 54,560,140 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,524,395. The business has a fifty day moving average of $26.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.44. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.48 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54. The firm has a market cap of $149.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.66, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 12.62% and a return on equity of 19.47%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This is a positive change from Pfizer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.54%. Pfizer's payout ratio is 121.99%.

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.