New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $225.70 Million Stock Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,507,294 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 44,256 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.15% of Pfizer worth $225,699,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position 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 lifted its position in Pfizer by 22.4% during the 3rd 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 buying an additional 6,977,587 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Pfizer during the 3rd quarter worth about $146,481,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Pfizer by 28.5% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 21,286,805 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $564,739,000 after buying an additional 4,726,549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its position in Pfizer by 164.2% during the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 7,316,405 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $211,737,000 after buying an additional 4,546,809 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pfizer news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock bought 19,457 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the purchase, the director now owns 27,707 shares in the company, valued at $710,684.55. This trade represents a 235.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Pfizer Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of PFE stock traded up $0.42 on Friday, reaching $26.32. The company had a trading volume of 54,560,140 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,524,395. 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 stock has a market cap of $149.14 billion, a PE ratio of 18.66, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50-day moving average of $26.28 and a 200-day moving average of $27.44. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.48 and a 12 month high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. The company had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. Pfizer's revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.54%. This is a boost from Pfizer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. Pfizer's dividend payout ratio is presently 121.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Pfizer to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Pfizer presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $31.92.

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.