Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 2,285,276 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 518,535,151 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,285,276 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 9.15% of Pfizer worth $13,756,738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Pfizer during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Pfizer during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Pfizer during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in Pfizer during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Curio Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Pfizer during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.92.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock acquired 19,457 shares of Pfizer stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $25.65 per share, for a total transaction of $499,072.05. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $710,684.55. This trade represents a 235.84 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of Pfizer stock opened at $26.20 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.04. Pfizer Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.48 and a 52 week high of $31.54. The company has a market capitalization of $148.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.58, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.61. 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 (NYSE:PFE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.10 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.