Eagle Asset Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 668,520 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,245 shares during the quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $17,863,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFE. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Pfizer by 11.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 130,143,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,766,366,000 after purchasing an additional 12,864,343 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Pfizer by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 71,794,056 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,008,798,000 after buying an additional 2,241,609 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Pfizer by 0.6% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $486,762,000 after buying an additional 100,900 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 2.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,560,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $477,929,000 after buying an additional 456,168 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 4.1% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,553,997 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $479,073,000 after buying an additional 658,420 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PFE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a report on Friday, October 25th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 target price on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Pfizer from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $34.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Daiwa America raised shares of Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pfizer news, Director Scott Gottlieb bought 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $282,400. The trade was a 11.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Pfizer Trading Up 2.0 %

PFE stock opened at $25.63 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Pfizer Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.48 and a twelve month high of $31.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $145.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.67. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.57.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.17) earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Pfizer’s payout ratio is 227.03%.

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.