Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Raises Stock Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 528.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,668,833 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,085,233 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $106,176,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Clifford Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC now owns 588,448 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $17,030,000 after purchasing an additional 51,703 shares in the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 51.1% during the 3rd quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC now owns 48,001 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,389,000 after purchasing an additional 16,235 shares in the last quarter. Hardy Reed LLC increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter. Hardy Reed LLC now owns 11,133 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 1,578 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 28.9% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 742,714 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $21,494,000 after purchasing an additional 166,709 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baldwin Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC now owns 20,298 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $587,000 after purchasing an additional 5,875 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the purchase, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on PFE shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Friday, October 25th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 target price for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.92.

Pfizer Stock Performance

NYSE:PFE opened at $25.76 on Wednesday. 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 $145.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.81, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.67. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.54. 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, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.17) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.