Pacer Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 386.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,095,900 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,664,668 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $55,604,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Pfizer by 11.0% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 22.4% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 38,068,879 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,101,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,977,587 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Pfizer in the 3rd quarter valued at $146,481,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in Pfizer by 164.2% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 7,316,405 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $211,737,000 after purchasing an additional 4,546,809 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Pfizer by 226.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,209,907 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $179,715,000 after purchasing an additional 4,309,076 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pfizer news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $282,400. This represents a 11.11 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com cut Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Pfizer in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Pfizer in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.00.

Pfizer Stock Performance

NYSE:PFE opened at $26.86 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $152.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.29, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.00. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.48 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $26.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.94.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.17) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. Pfizer’s payout ratio is currently 232.43%.

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.