Mizuho Markets Americas LLC Takes $3.75 Million Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Mizuho Markets Americas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 134,947 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,745,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PFE. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Pfizer by 812.1% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 3,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 2,883 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Pfizer during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $297,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Pfizer during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $709,000. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. increased its holdings in Pfizer by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. now owns 203,677 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,864,000 after buying an additional 39,292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Pfizer by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 56,534 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,628,000 after buying an additional 9,445 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $36.00 price target (up from $33.00) on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pfizer has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.50.

Pfizer Price Performance

Pfizer stock traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $29.97. 30,021,169 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,277,082. The company has a market cap of $169.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -499.42, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.69. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $28.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Pfizer Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.20 and a 12-month high of $37.80.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $14.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.87 billion. Pfizer had a negative net margin of 0.56% and a positive return on equity of 8.64%. Pfizer’s revenue was down 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.23 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 26th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 26th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is currently -2,799.53%.

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.