Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 49.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,159 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,319 shares during the quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PFE. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 12,864,343 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Pfizer by 279.3% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,378,173 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $150,481,000 after purchasing an additional 8,378,173 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Pfizer by 22.4% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 6,977,587 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Pfizer during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $146,481,000. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its stake in Pfizer by 164.2% during the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 7,316,405 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $211,737,000 after purchasing an additional 4,546,809 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Pfizer stock opened at $26.63 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $26.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.98. 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 company has a market capitalization of $150.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.98, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.48 and a 1-year high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.17) EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.46%. This is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s payout ratio is presently 227.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on PFE. Wolfe Research began coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup began coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Friday, October 25th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued 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, Pfizer presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pfizer

In related news, Director Scott Gottlieb bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $282,400. The trade was a 11.11 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.