Oakworth Capital Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Oakworth Capital Inc. lowered its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 56.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,655 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 36,441 shares during the quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $760,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 15,886 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $420,000 after purchasing an additional 1,919 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 53,277 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,413,000 after purchasing an additional 8,368 shares during the period. Long Run Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Long Run Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 52,001 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,380,000 after purchasing an additional 5,916 shares during the period. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 24,618 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $653,000 after purchasing an additional 2,490 shares during the period. Finally, Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Pfizer by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,682 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $416,000 after buying an additional 434 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of Pfizer stock opened at $26.46 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $149.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.76, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.48 and a 12 month high of $31.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $17.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.10 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.50%. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. Pfizer’s payout ratio is presently 232.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on PFE shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Pfizer presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.92.

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.