Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Sells 92,252 Shares of Pfizer Inc. $PFE

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise trimmed its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 32.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 189,278 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 92,252 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $4,822,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PFE. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Pfizer during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $14,343,000. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. grew its holdings in Pfizer by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. now owns 28,060 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $764,000 after acquiring an additional 5,010 shares during the period. LGT Group Foundation raised its position in shares of Pfizer by 27.1% during the 3rd quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 1,985,137 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $54,016,000 after acquiring an additional 423,419 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,307,137 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $109,422,000 after purchasing an additional 328,783 shares during the period. Finally, Inceptionr LLC bought a new position in shares of Pfizer in the 3rd quarter worth $504,000. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Monday. Zacks Research raised shares of Pfizer from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Pfizer in a report on Thursday, November 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $30.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Pfizer in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Argus raised Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.05.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of PFE stock opened at $26.81 on Tuesday. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.92 and a 12 month high of $27.94. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.48. The firm has a market cap of $152.42 billion, a PE ratio of 19.71 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.09. Pfizer had a net margin of 12.42% and a return on equity of 20.48%. The business had revenue of $17.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 23rd were issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 23rd. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.4%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.47%.

About Pfizer

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.