Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC Sells 3,875 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 16.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,057 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 3,875 shares during the period. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $580,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 11.0% in 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 last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Pfizer by 3.2% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 71,794,056 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,008,798,000 after buying an additional 2,241,609 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Pfizer by 22.4% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 38,068,879 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,101,713,000 after acquiring an additional 6,977,587 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Pfizer by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $486,762,000 after acquiring an additional 100,900 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Pfizer by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,560,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $477,929,000 after acquiring an additional 456,168 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on PFE shares. StockNews.com downgraded Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Pfizer in a report on Friday, October 25th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI raised shares of Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded shares of Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.92.

Pfizer Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE PFE opened at $26.21 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.42, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.67. Pfizer Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.48 and a 52 week high of $31.54. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $27.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.00.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The business had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.17) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.41%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 227.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb bought 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $282,400. This trade represents a 11.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.