AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Buys 1,987,425 Shares of Pfizer Inc. $PFE

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 629.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,303,359 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,987,425 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $55,833,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Pfizer by 856.8% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 20,053,828 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $508,164,000 after acquiring an additional 17,957,928 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in Pfizer by 43.4% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 52,090,403 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,265,277,000 after acquiring an additional 15,758,846 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Pfizer in the 1st quarter valued at about $389,861,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Pfizer by 51.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 26,456,457 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $670,407,000 after acquiring an additional 9,041,990 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Pfizer by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 523,165,127 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $13,257,004,000 after acquiring an additional 4,629,976 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of PFE stock opened at $24.79 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $24.87 and a 200-day moving average of $24.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Pfizer Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.92 and a 12-month high of $29.17. The firm has a market cap of $140.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.18, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.55.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.20. Pfizer had a net margin of 16.84% and a return on equity of 21.42%. The company had revenue of $14.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. Pfizer’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Pfizer has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.900-3.100 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 7th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.9%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 91.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on PFE shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Pfizer from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Saturday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Pfizer from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 28th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Pfizer from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Pfizer presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.13.

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.