Probity Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Probity Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 40,780 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 3,175 shares during the quarter. Probity Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,180,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 279.3% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,378,173 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $150,481,000 after acquiring an additional 8,378,173 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Pfizer in the 1st quarter valued at $172,902,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Pfizer by 181.6% in the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,670,445 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $212,855,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947,000 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 21.8% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 15,813,328 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $438,820,000 after buying an additional 2,829,178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Pfizer by 24,961.6% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,497,886 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $69,891,000 after buying an additional 2,487,919 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Price Performance

Pfizer stock opened at $29.57 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.86. Pfizer Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.20 and a 1 year high of $32.68. The company has a market capitalization of $167.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -494.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.67.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.14. Pfizer had a positive return on equity of 8.42% and a negative net margin of 4.66%. The company had revenue of $13.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.67 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -2,800.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Pfizer from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Daiwa America upgraded Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Pfizer in a report on Thursday. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.91.

Pfizer Company 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.