Boston Partners Cuts Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Boston Partners trimmed its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 2.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,156,897 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 70,171 shares during the period. Boston Partners owned approximately 0.06% of Pfizer worth $87,548,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PFE. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Pfizer in the 4th quarter worth $2,129,927,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Pfizer by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 239,209,768 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,886,849,000 after acquiring an additional 11,099,024 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Pfizer by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 104,246,432 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,985,783,000 after acquiring an additional 8,473,686 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Pfizer by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 68,506,441 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,972,300,000 after purchasing an additional 8,298,920 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Pfizer in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $172,902,000. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PFE. StockNews.com raised Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $36.00 target price (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Pfizer from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.58.

Pfizer Trading Down 0.7 %

PFE traded down $0.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $30.43. 42,364,712 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 37,871,120. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.84. The firm has a market cap of $172.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -507.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.69. Pfizer Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.20 and a 1 year high of $37.19.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.14. Pfizer had a positive return on equity of 8.31% and a negative net margin of 4.66%. The firm had revenue of $13.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 26th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.52%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is presently -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.