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

Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 5.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 431,232 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 20,769 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $12,480,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 3.2% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 71,794,056 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,008,798,000 after purchasing an additional 2,241,609 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $486,762,000 after buying an additional 100,900 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,560,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $477,929,000 after buying an additional 456,168 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Pfizer by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,553,997 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $479,073,000 after buying an additional 658,420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in Pfizer by 3.3% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 14,923,545 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $417,561,000 after acquiring an additional 470,003 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pfizer

In related news, Director Scott Gottlieb acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $282,400. This trade represents a 11.11 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PFE. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.92.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of PFE stock opened at $25.63 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $145.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Pfizer Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.48 and a twelve month high of $31.54. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.57.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.42. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The company had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.17) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.55%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.03%.

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.