Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA Sells 921 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA lowered its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,622 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 921 shares during the quarter. Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $363,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 95,772,746 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,161,261,000 after purchasing an additional 9,393,992 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Pfizer by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 84,927,802 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,817,055,000 after purchasing an additional 348,628 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Pfizer by 9.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 60,207,521 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,997,083,000 after buying an additional 5,185,453 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Pfizer by 30.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,054,896 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $797,901,000 after purchasing an additional 5,678,004 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Pfizer by 0.6% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 18,380,833 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $609,692,000 after purchasing an additional 101,256 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on PFE shares. TD Cowen downgraded Pfizer from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $32.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Guggenheim started coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price target for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Argus lowered shares of Pfizer from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.33.

Pfizer Stock Up 3.3 %

Shares of Pfizer stock traded up $0.84 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $26.46. 35,858,312 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 41,875,484. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.20 and a fifty-two week high of $40.37. The stock has a market cap of $149.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a 50 day moving average of $26.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.26.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.19) by $0.29. Pfizer had a net margin of 3.62% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The firm had revenue of $14.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 41.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.35%. Pfizer’s payout ratio is 466.67%.

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.