Pfizer Inc. $PFE Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 0.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 43,233,122 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 272,441 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,041,054,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 529,670,433 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $12,754,464,000 after buying an additional 31,412,883 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Pfizer by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 300,445,164 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,481,085,000 after acquiring an additional 1,357,756 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Pfizer by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 130,192,081 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,235,642,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,728 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Pfizer by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 89,113,604 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,218,929,000 after acquiring an additional 14,342,946 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Pfizer during the 4th quarter worth $1,830,986,000. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pfizer Trading Up 2.0%

Pfizer stock opened at $28.53 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $25.39 and its 200-day moving average is $26.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.27. Pfizer Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year high of $28.75. The company has a market cap of $162.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.54 and a beta of 0.34.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $15.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.40 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 6.80% and a return on equity of 19.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. Pfizer has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.800-3.000 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 24th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 24th. Pfizer’s payout ratio is presently 226.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PFE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Pfizer from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Pfizer from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised Pfizer from an “underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $25.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their target price on Pfizer from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.28.

Pfizer Profile

Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) is a multinational biopharmaceutical company headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1849 by Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart, the company researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes a broad range of medicines and vaccines for human health. Its activities span discovery research, clinical development, regulatory affairs, manufacturing and global commercial distribution across multiple therapeutic areas.

Pfizer’s portfolio and pipeline cover oncology, immunology, cardiology, endocrinology, rare diseases, hospital acute care and anti-infectives, along with a substantial vaccine business.