Financial Counselors Inc. Has $7.53 Million Stock Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Financial Counselors Inc. lowered its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 6.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 260,082 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 18,400 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $7,527,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PFE. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 11.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 12,864,343 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Pfizer by 3.2% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 71,794,056 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,008,798,000 after buying an additional 2,241,609 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $1,101,713,000 after buying an additional 6,977,587 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its position in 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 buying an additional 100,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Pfizer by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,560,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $477,929,000 after acquiring an additional 456,168 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PFE. Evercore ISI upgraded Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Friday, October 25th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price objective for the company. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Pfizer from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pfizer has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.92.

Pfizer Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:PFE opened at $25.83 on Friday. Pfizer Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.48 and a 52-week high of $31.54. The company has a market capitalization of $146.38 billion, a PE ratio of 34.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $27.89 and a 200-day moving average of $28.51.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. Pfizer’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.17) EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.50%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 227.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Scott Gottlieb bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $282,400. This trade represents a 11.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.