Essex Financial Services Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Essex Financial Services Inc. lowered its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 271,215 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 6,792 shares during the period. Pfizer accounts for about 0.8% of Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $7,808,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PFE. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised 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 raised its stake in Pfizer by 0.4% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 5,185,453 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Pfizer by 30.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,054,896 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $797,901,000 after buying an additional 5,678,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System increased 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 worth $609,692,000 after buying an additional 101,256 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PFE has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen cut 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Argus cut shares of Pfizer from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Pfizer has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.33.

Pfizer Stock Up 6.0 %

Shares of NYSE PFE traded up $1.55 on Wednesday, reaching $27.17. 55,744,603 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 42,082,469. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.26. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.20 and a 12 month high of $40.37. The company has a market cap of $153.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 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 (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $14.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.37 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 3.62%. The company’s revenue was down 41.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.18%. Pfizer’s payout ratio is currently 466.67%.

Pfizer Company 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.