Public Sector Pension Investment Board Sells 81,269 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lessened its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 11.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 617,583 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 81,269 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $25,197,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Pfizer by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 218,931,933 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,932,423,000 after purchasing an additional 19,602,359 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 89,592.7% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 161,143,638 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,257,000,000 after buying an additional 160,963,976 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pfizer by 14.4% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 83,901,181 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,408,836,000 after acquiring an additional 10,560,702 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 79,499,361 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,073,547,000 after acquiring an additional 7,419,929 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Pfizer during the 4th quarter valued at $3,150,472,000. 68.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Pfizer from $42.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. StockNews.com began coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. HSBC assumed coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Friday, July 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on Pfizer from $40.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 11th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on Pfizer from $64.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pfizer currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.35.

Pfizer Price Performance

Pfizer stock traded up $0.40 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $35.78. 8,074,834 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 24,080,736. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.65 and a 12 month high of $54.93. The business’s 50-day moving average is $36.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 2.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $202.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.60.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $12.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.36 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 28.36% and a net margin of 27.55%. The business’s revenue was down 54.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.04 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 28th will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.58%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 27th. Pfizer’s payout ratio is presently 43.62%.

Pfizer Company Profile

Pfizer Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells biopharmaceutical products worldwide. It offers medicines and vaccines in various therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular metabolic, migraine, and women's health under the Eliquis, Nurtec ODT/Vydura, and the Premarin family brands; infectious diseases with unmet medical needs under the Prevnar family, 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.