Park Place Capital Corp Sells 4,430 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Park Place Capital Corp lowered its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 36.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,588 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 4,430 shares during the period. Park Place Capital Corp’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $201,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PFE. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pfizer in the second quarter worth about $224,000. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its position in shares of Pfizer by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 95,592 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,675,000 after buying an additional 5,932 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP purchased a new position in shares of Pfizer during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,698,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Pfizer during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,452,000. Finally, Caxton Associates LP purchased a new stake in Pfizer in the second quarter worth $738,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Stock Down 2.4 %

NYSE:PFE opened at $26.01 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $147.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.48 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.97.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.17) earnings per share. Analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is presently 227.03%.

Insider Activity at Pfizer

In related news, Director Scott Gottlieb bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $282,400. The trade was a 11.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on PFE shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Friday, October 25th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price objective on the stock. Guggenheim reduced their target price on Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.00.

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.