EP Wealth Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 289,951 Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 289,951 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,858,000. Pfizer comprises 0.9% of EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 89,592.7% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 161,143,638 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,257,000,000 after purchasing an additional 160,963,976 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Pfizer in the fourth quarter worth $3,150,472,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Pfizer by 9.8% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 218,931,933 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,932,423,000 after buying an additional 19,602,359 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in Pfizer by 1,034.0% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 12,149,955 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $495,718,000 after buying an additional 11,078,514 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted 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 worth $3,408,836,000 after buying an additional 10,560,702 shares during the last quarter. 68.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PFE. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Pfizer from $40.00 to $38.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Friday, July 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Pfizer from $45.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Pfizer from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pfizer presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.35.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of PFE stock opened at $34.08 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $192.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.54 and a 12 month high of $54.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $35.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.09.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.10. Pfizer had a net margin of 27.55% and a return on equity of 28.36%. The firm had revenue of $12.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.04 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 54.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 3.33 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 28th were paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.81%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 27th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is 43.62%.

About Pfizer

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.