BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Buys 139,620 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 14.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,085,110 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 139,620 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $28,788,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PFE. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Pfizer by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 518,535,151 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $13,756,738,000 after acquiring an additional 2,285,276 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 19.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 155,459,101 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,124,330,000 after purchasing an additional 25,315,159 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 120,589,782 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,190,131,000 after purchasing an additional 2,923,537 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Pfizer in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,328,986,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Pfizer by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 76,502,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,029,604,000 after buying an additional 5,350,381 shares during the period. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Pfizer Trading Down 2.0%

NYSE PFE opened at $23.06 on Thursday. Pfizer Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.92 and a 12-month high of $31.54. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market cap of $131.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.58.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $13.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.43 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.82 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th will be given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.46%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 124.64%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on PFE. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 price target (down from $32.00) on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Pfizer in a report on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.17.

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.