Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) Shares Purchased by Northern Trust Corp

Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,382,560 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after buying an additional 4,167,222 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.03% of Pfizer worth $1,548,889,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,071,700 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $108,002,000 after purchasing an additional 1,080,822 shares in the last quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 118.7% during the fourth quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 294,764 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $7,820,000 after purchasing an additional 159,984 shares in the last quarter. Copley Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Pfizer during the third quarter worth $577,000. Mcdonald Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Mcdonald Partners LLC now owns 110,296 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $2,926,000 after purchasing an additional 9,963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 60.8% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 127,967 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $3,395,000 after purchasing an additional 48,397 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on PFE. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Pfizer to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $25.00 price target (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $24.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $29.57.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock acquired 19,457 shares of Pfizer stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $25.65 per share, for a total transaction of $499,072.05. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $710,684.55. This represents a 235.84 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Pfizer Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of PFE opened at $22.95 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $24.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.92. 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 52-week low of $20.92 and a 52-week high of $31.54. The company has a market cap of $130.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.28, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.67.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.49%. Pfizer's payout ratio is presently 121.99%.

Pfizer Company 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.

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