National Pension Service Purchases 192,179 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

National Pension Service lifted its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,306,192 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 192,179 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned 0.16% of Pfizer worth $267,925,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in Pfizer during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Pfizer during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 52,350.0% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,049 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,047 shares in the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 304.9% during the fourth quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 1,077 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new position in Pfizer during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 68.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Argus downgraded shares of Pfizer from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price objective for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 price target (up from $33.00) on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.00.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PFE traded up $0.04 on Thursday, hitting $27.89. The company had a trading volume of 16,622,904 shares, compared to its average volume of 43,237,758. The company has a market cap of $157.93 billion, a PE ratio of -463.76, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.63. The business has a 50 day moving average of $26.92 and a 200 day moving average of $28.12. Pfizer Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.20 and a 52-week high of $40.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.26. Pfizer had a negative net margin of 0.56% and a positive return on equity of 8.58%. The business had revenue of $14.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.23 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.02%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is currently -2,799.53%.

About Pfizer

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.