Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) by 21.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 115,225 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 31,044 shares during the quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC's holdings in Pfizer were worth $3,057,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PFE. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 1.2% during the third 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. boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 11.0% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Pfizer by 1.6% in 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 increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 6,977,587 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its position 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 worth $486,762,000 after purchasing an additional 100,900 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company's stock.

Pfizer Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of Pfizer stock traded up $0.27 during trading on Thursday, reaching $26.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 32,267,744 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,834,879. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.90. Pfizer Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.48 and a 1-year high of $31.54. The company has a market cap of $152.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.17) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This is a positive change from Pfizer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.40%. Pfizer's dividend payout ratio is currently 227.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on PFE shares. Evercore ISI raised shares of Pfizer to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein began 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. Guggenheim lowered their price target on Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $31.92.

Pfizer 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.