Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Lowers Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) by 16.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 110,365 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 21,537 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Pfizer were worth $2,928,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in PFE. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 155,459,101 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $4,124,330,000 after acquiring an additional 25,315,159 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Pfizer in the fourth quarter valued at about $274,694,000. 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 worth $1,101,713,000 after buying an additional 6,977,587 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 79.5% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,148,116 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $295,760,000 after buying an additional 4,938,209 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 28.5% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 21,286,805 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $564,739,000 after buying an additional 4,726,549 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock acquired 19,457 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares in the company, valued at $710,684.55. This trade represents a 235.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on PFE. Wolfe Research began coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Pfizer from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $33.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Monday, February 10th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $31.92.

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Pfizer Trading Down 2.4 %

PFE opened at $26.00 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $147.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.61. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $26.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.19. Pfizer Inc. has a one year low of $24.48 and a one year high of $31.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.00.

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

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th were paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.62%. This is a boost from Pfizer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer's dividend 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.

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