Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) Director Ronald E. Blaylock Purchases 19,457 Shares

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) Director Ronald E. Blaylock purchased 19,457 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 purchase, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $710,684.55. The trade was a 235.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Pfizer Price Performance

Pfizer stock traded down $0.15 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $25.50. The stock had a trading volume of 33,055,417 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,577,760. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.08, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.48 and a 1-year high of $31.54. The stock's fifty day moving average is $26.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $17.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.75%. This is a positive change from Pfizer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 121.99%.

Institutional Trading of Pfizer

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 518,535,151 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $13,756,738,000 after acquiring an additional 2,285,276 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Pfizer by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 290,460,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $8,405,930,000 after buying an additional 3,405,539 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Pfizer by 19.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 155,459,101 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $4,124,330,000 after buying an additional 25,315,159 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Pfizer by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 120,589,782 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $3,190,131,000 after buying an additional 2,923,537 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Pfizer during the fourth quarter worth about $2,328,986,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PFE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $33.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI raised Pfizer to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $31.92.

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.