First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Grows Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 45.0% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 51,735 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 16,060 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,436,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Advisor OS LLC boosted its position in Pfizer by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 35,202 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,013,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Safeguard Investment Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Pfizer by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Safeguard Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 9,987 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 30,582 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $849,000 after buying an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. King Wealth Management Group lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. King Wealth Management Group now owns 16,686 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $480,000 after buying an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advance Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Advance Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,177 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $293,000 after buying an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Argus lowered Pfizer from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Pfizer from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $36.00 price objective (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Pfizer in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.54.

Pfizer Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of PFE traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $27.70. The company had a trading volume of 15,180,087 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,961,926. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $156.96 billion, a PE ratio of -461.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.69. Pfizer Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.20 and a 1-year high of $37.80.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $14.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.87 billion. Pfizer had a positive return on equity of 8.64% and a negative net margin of 0.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.23 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 26th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.06%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 25th. Pfizer’s payout ratio is -2,799.53%.

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.