Whitener Capital Management Inc. Acquires 22,145 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Whitener Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) by 42.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 74,790 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after purchasing an additional 22,145 shares during the quarter. Whitener Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,984,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 0.6% in 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Pfizer by 11.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 130,143,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $3,766,366,000 after buying an additional 12,864,343 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in Pfizer by 80.9% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 508,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $14,709,000 after buying an additional 227,349 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Pfizer by 394.2% during the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 52,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,512,000 after acquiring an additional 41,668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,105,433 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $89,872,000 after acquiring an additional 639,985 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Scott Gottlieb acquired 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 10,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $282,400. The trade was a 11.11 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Pfizer Stock Performance

PFE traded down $0.19 on Friday, hitting $26.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 35,146,711 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,869,448. The firm has a market cap of $149.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $26.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.99. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.48 and a 12 month high of $31.54. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The business had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.17) EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.54%. This is a boost from Pfizer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer's dividend payout ratio is presently 227.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on PFE shares. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their target price on Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $32.00.

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.