Wesbanco Bank Inc. Sells 49,599 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. reduced its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 19.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 199,662 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 49,599 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $5,297,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $486,762,000 after purchasing an additional 100,900 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 130,143,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,766,366,000 after purchasing an additional 12,864,343 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 80.9% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 508,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $14,709,000 after purchasing an additional 227,349 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 394.2% during the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 52,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,512,000 after buying an additional 41,668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,105,433 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $89,872,000 after buying an additional 639,985 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Pfizer Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of PFE opened at $26.01 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.48 and a 1 year high of $31.54. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.97. 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 released its 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 firm had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.17) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Pfizer news, Director Scott Gottlieb acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were bought 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $282,400. The trade was a 11.11 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price objective on the stock. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup started coverage on Pfizer in a report on Friday, October 25th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price target on Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Pfizer currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.00.

About Pfizer

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.