Merit Financial Group LLC Buys 48,397 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 60.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 127,967 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,397 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $3,395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PFE. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 739,236 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $20,684,000 after acquiring an additional 20,140 shares during the period. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Pfizer by 15.1% in the second quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 22,470 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $629,000 after purchasing an additional 2,950 shares during the period. Schwerin Boyle Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Pfizer by 8.2% in the second quarter. Schwerin Boyle Capital Management Inc. now owns 775,125 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $21,688,000 after purchasing an additional 58,850 shares in the last quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC lifted its position in Pfizer by 10.3% during the second quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 18,834 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $527,000 after buying an additional 1,757 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Pfizer by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 845,638 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $23,661,000 after buying an additional 57,825 shares during the period. 68.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pfizer

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

Pfizer Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of Pfizer stock opened at $26.30 on Monday. Pfizer Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.48 and a twelve month high of $31.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The company’s 50 day moving average is $26.08 and its 200 day moving average is $27.99. The company has a market cap of $149.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The firm had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.92 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.17) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.54%. This is a positive change 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 232.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on PFE shares. Guggenheim lowered their price target on shares of Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Evercore ISI raised Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Pfizer in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price target on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.