South Dakota Investment Council Reduces Stake in Pfizer Inc. $PFE

South Dakota Investment Council lessened its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 0.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,345,208 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,318 shares during the quarter. Pfizer comprises 0.6% of South Dakota Investment Council’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $32,608,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFE. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 523,165,127 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $13,257,004,000 after acquiring an additional 4,629,976 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Pfizer by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 62,325,957 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,579,340,000 after purchasing an additional 3,943,397 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its position in Pfizer by 43.4% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 52,090,403 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,265,277,000 after purchasing an additional 15,758,846 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 2.8% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 30,296,337 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $767,709,000 after purchasing an additional 838,198 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in Pfizer by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 28,239,197 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $715,581,000 after buying an additional 1,846,436 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PFE shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Pfizer from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Pfizer from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 28th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.24.

Pfizer Stock Up 1.6%

PFE stock opened at $24.68 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $24.77 and a 200 day moving average of $24.28. The firm has a market cap of $140.29 billion, a PE ratio of 13.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.55. Pfizer Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.92 and a twelve month high of $28.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $14.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.43 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 21.42% and a net margin of 16.84%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. Pfizer has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.900-3.100 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.0%. Pfizer’s payout ratio is 91.49%.

Pfizer 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.