ProShare Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

ProShare Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 3.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 819,771 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 28,937 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $28,044,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PFE. Profund Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Pfizer by 5.5% in the first quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 369,364 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $12,636,000 after buying an additional 19,312 shares during the last quarter. BTR Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pfizer by 4.2% in the first quarter. BTR Capital Management Inc. now owns 246,537 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,434,000 after buying an additional 9,977 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Pfizer by 1.7% in the first quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 32,759,530 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,120,704,000 after buying an additional 554,777 shares during the last quarter. Harwood Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Pfizer by 29.3% in the first quarter. Harwood Advisory Group LLC now owns 13,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $453,000 after buying an additional 3,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foster & Motley Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pfizer by 3.3% in the first quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 298,763 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $10,221,000 after buying an additional 9,501 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.10% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer, Inc. (PFE) traded down 0.51% on Friday, hitting $33.25. The company had a trading volume of 12,928,473 shares. Pfizer, Inc. has a 12-month low of $29.83 and a 12-month high of $35.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.43 billion, a PE ratio of 24.32 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $33.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.31.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $12.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.08 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 24.11% and a net margin of 15.84%. Pfizer’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Pfizer, Inc. will post $2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 4th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 2nd. Pfizer’s payout ratio is 94.12%.

Several research analysts have commented on PFE shares. Citigroup Inc. cut shares of Pfizer from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $38.00 to $31.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 16th. Barclays PLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Pfizer from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $37.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $33.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, April 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.77.

In other Pfizer news, insider Alexander R. Mackenzie sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.50, for a total transaction of $502,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 151,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,074,379. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ian C. Read sold 96,950 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.00, for a total value of $3,296,300.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

About Pfizer

Pfizer Inc (Pfizer) is a research-based global biopharmaceutical company. The Company is engaged in the discovery, development and manufacture of healthcare products. Its global portfolio includes medicines and vaccines, as well as consumer healthcare products. The Company manages its commercial operations through two business segments: Pfizer Innovative Health (IH) and Pfizer Essential Health (EH).