Argyle Capital Management Inc. Decreases Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Argyle Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 14.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 117,283 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 19,917 shares during the quarter. Pfizer makes up 1.4% of Argyle Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Argyle Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $3,377,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 40.5% in the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 4,739,672 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $157,215,000 after acquiring an additional 1,365,295 shares during the last quarter. LifePlan Financial LLC acquired a new position in Pfizer in the fourth quarter valued at $255,000. Brookstone Capital Management increased its stake in Pfizer by 88.5% in the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 452,352 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $14,109,000 after purchasing an additional 212,369 shares during the last quarter. ETF Store Inc. increased its stake in Pfizer by 12.0% in the third quarter. ETF Store Inc. now owns 6,803 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $214,000 after purchasing an additional 727 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KLCM Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Pfizer by 75.0% in the fourth quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 173,793 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,004,000 after purchasing an additional 74,487 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PFE traded up $0.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $25.40. The company had a trading volume of 46,526,457 shares, compared to its average volume of 34,120,812. The stock has a market cap of $143.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.56, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.61. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.20 and a 12 month high of $40.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.36.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by $0.29. The business had revenue of $14.25 billion for 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 business’s revenue was down 41.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.61%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 466.67%.

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.