Vest Financial LLC Raises Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 200.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 23,661 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,781 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $685,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PFE. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Pfizer by 279.3% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,378,173 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $150,481,000 after acquiring an additional 8,378,173 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Pfizer in the first quarter worth $172,902,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Pfizer by 181.6% during the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,670,445 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $212,855,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947,000 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 15,813,328 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $438,820,000 after buying an additional 2,829,178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 24,961.6% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,497,886 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $69,891,000 after buying an additional 2,487,919 shares during the period. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays raised their price target on Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Pfizer from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.91.

Pfizer Price Performance

Pfizer stock opened at $28.93 on Tuesday. Pfizer Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.20 and a 52-week high of $31.54. The company has a market cap of $163.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -482.17, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $29.07 and its 200 day moving average is $28.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.14. Pfizer had a negative net margin of 4.66% and a positive return on equity of 8.42%. The firm had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.81%. Pfizer’s payout ratio is presently -2,800.00%.

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.