ING Groep NV Boosts Stock Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

ING Groep NV raised its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 48.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,013,230 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 331,403 shares during the period. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $26,881,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Pfizer by 0.6% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $486,762,000 after acquiring an additional 100,900 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 11.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 130,143,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,766,366,000 after buying an additional 12,864,343 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 80.9% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 508,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $14,709,000 after buying an additional 227,349 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 394.2% during the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 52,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,512,000 after buying an additional 41,668 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 26.0% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,105,433 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $89,872,000 after buying an additional 639,985 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Pfizer

In other Pfizer news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock bought 19,457 shares of Pfizer stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $25.65 per share, for a total transaction of $499,072.05. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 27,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $710,684.55. The trade was a 235.84 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pfizer currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.92.

Pfizer Stock Performance

NYSE:PFE opened at $25.86 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $146.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.34, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.44. Pfizer Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.48 and a twelve month high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $17.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 12.62% and a return on equity of 19.47%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a positive change from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.65%. Pfizer’s payout ratio is presently 121.99%.

Pfizer 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.