Principle Wealth Partners LLC Sells 65,121 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Principle Wealth Partners LLC lessened its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 18.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 290,228 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 65,121 shares during the period. Principle Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $8,356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 10.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 9,393,992 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 84,927,802 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,817,055,000 after acquiring an additional 348,628 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 9.4% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 5,185,453 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 30.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,054,896 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $797,901,000 after acquiring an additional 5,678,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 18,380,833 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $609,692,000 after acquiring an additional 101,256 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of PFE traded up $0.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $25.40. 46,526,457 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 34,120,812. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.39. The firm has a market cap of $143.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Pfizer Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.20 and a 52 week high of $40.37.

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

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.61%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.