DF Dent & Co. Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

DF Dent & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 45,708 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,852 shares during the period. DF Dent & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,323,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 290,460,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,405,930,000 after buying an additional 3,405,539 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $3,766,366,000 after buying an additional 12,864,343 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 3.2% during the 2nd 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 buying an additional 2,241,609 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,101,713,000 after buying an additional 6,977,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $486,762,000 after buying an additional 100,900 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Stock Performance

NYSE:PFE opened at $25.73 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $27.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.38. Pfizer Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.48 and a twelve month high of $31.54. The stock has a market cap of $145.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.77, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly 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. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The firm had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.17) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.53%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is 227.03%.

Insider Activity at Pfizer

In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $282,400. This represents a 11.11 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on PFE shares. Evercore ISI raised Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price objective on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Pfizer currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.92.

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.