SouthState Corp Decreases Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

SouthState Corp decreased its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 30.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 55,916 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 23,943 shares during the period. SouthState Corp’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,610,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Pfizer by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 95,772,746 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,161,261,000 after purchasing an additional 9,393,992 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Pfizer by 30.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,054,896 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $797,901,000 after purchasing an additional 5,678,004 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Pfizer by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 60,207,521 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,997,083,000 after purchasing an additional 5,185,453 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its holdings in Pfizer by 219.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 5,503,983 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $182,567,000 after buying an additional 3,780,696 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Pfizer by 33.6% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,984,150 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $373,813,000 after buying an additional 3,265,276 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen cut shares of Pfizer from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $32.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Pfizer from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Argus lowered Pfizer from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 price objective (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Thursday. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pfizer has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.00.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PFE traded up $0.11 during trading on Friday, reaching $27.81. 45,367,553 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 43,148,504. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.25. Pfizer Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.20 and a 52-week high of $40.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.48 billion, a PE ratio of -463.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.63.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $14.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.87 billion. Pfizer had a positive return on equity of 8.58% and a negative net margin of 0.56%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.23 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. Pfizer’s payout ratio is -2,799.53%.

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.