HighTower Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in Pfizer Inc. $PFE

HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,615,514 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 32,629 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $62,982,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Pfizer by 1,282.4% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 666,318 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $17,677,000 after buying an additional 618,117 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 18,766 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $498,000 after acquiring an additional 2,087 shares in the last quarter. United Bank boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 58,087 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,408,000 after acquiring an additional 6,415 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 31.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 2,635,691 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $63,889,000 after acquiring an additional 631,523 shares during the period. Finally, HUB Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Pfizer by 45.3% in the 2nd quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 102,327 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,480,000 after purchasing an additional 31,896 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on PFE shares. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Pfizer from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $27.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Pfizer from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.28.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PFE opened at $28.25 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.27. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $25.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.23. The stock has a market cap of $161.00 billion, a PE ratio of 37.17 and a beta of 0.34. Pfizer Inc. has a one year low of $23.58 and a one year high of $28.75.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.09. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.63% and a net margin of 6.80%.The company had revenue of $15.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Pfizer has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.800-3.000 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 24th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 24th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.1%. Pfizer’s payout ratio is presently 226.32%.

Key Stories Impacting Pfizer

Here are the key news stories impacting Pfizer this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Merck and Moderna reported positive Phase 3 melanoma results for their personalized mRNA cancer-vaccine combination with Keytruda, demonstrating improved recurrence-free survival. Pfizer is not directly involved, but the data lifted sentiment across mRNA and oncology companies and highlighted the potential value of Pfizer’s own cancer-vaccine ambitions. Pfizer Stock Rises Wednesday: What’s Going On?
• Positive Sentiment: Pfizer and Valneva received validation from the European Medicines Agency for their Lyme disease vaccine application, allowing the filing to proceed to full regulatory review after encouraging late-stage efficacy and safety results. Pfizer Gets EMA Lyme Vaccine Filing Validation
• Positive Sentiment: Unusually heavy call-option activity indicated increased speculative interest: investors bought 170,284 call options, roughly 47% above typical daily volume. This is a sentiment signal rather than a change to Pfizer’s fundamentals.
• Positive Sentiment: Pfizer’s potential monthly obesity treatment, berobenatide, could provide entry into the fast-growing GLP-1 market if clinical development and market-share objectives are achieved. Pfizer’s Obesity Push
• Neutral Sentiment: Merck’s increased investment in personalized cancer vaccines raises the competitive bar for Pfizer and BioNTech. The development validates the market opportunity but could make it harder for Pfizer to differentiate its pipeline. Merck Just Raised the Stakes for Pfizer’s Cancer Vaccine Ambitions
• Negative Sentiment: Investors continue to debate Pfizer’s looming patent cliff, which could pressure revenue as key products face loss-of-exclusivity risk. The stock’s relatively low valuation and dividend appeal may partly reflect these concerns. Pfizer: Still Cheap Valuation Meets a Looming Patent Cliff

Pfizer Company Profile

Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) is a multinational biopharmaceutical company headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1849 by Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart, the company researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes a broad range of medicines and vaccines for human health. Its activities span discovery research, clinical development, regulatory affairs, manufacturing and global commercial distribution across multiple therapeutic areas.

Pfizer’s portfolio and pipeline cover oncology, immunology, cardiology, endocrinology, rare diseases, hospital acute care and anti-infectives, along with a substantial vaccine business.