Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Sells 58,160 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC cut its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,142,608 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 58,160 shares during the quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC's holdings in Pfizer were worth $30,313,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Pfizer by 2.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 0.7% during 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 during the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 0.9% in 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 in the last quarter. PSI Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 1.4% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Pfizer by 1.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

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 bought at an average cost of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $282,400. This trade represents a 11.11 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on PFE. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $25.00 price objective on the stock. 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. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $32.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Friday, October 25th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $30.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $32.00.

Pfizer Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of PFE stock traded down $0.19 on Friday, hitting $26.30. The stock had a trading volume of 35,133,333 shares, compared to its average volume of 33,528,273. 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 twelve month low of $24.48 and a twelve month high of $31.54. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $26.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.00. The firm has a market cap of $149.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.55, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) last posted 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 analysts' expectations of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The company'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. As a group, analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.54%. This is a positive change from Pfizer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer's payout ratio is presently 227.03%.

Pfizer Company Profile

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.