Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $64.14 Million Stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,417,446 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 83,017 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $64,135,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. increased its position in Pfizer by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 9,316 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in Pfizer in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,032,000. Ieq Capital LLC grew its position in Pfizer by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 320,472 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,502,000 after acquiring an additional 40,117 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 28,474 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $755,000 after purchasing an additional 2,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 29.6% in the fourth quarter. Private Wealth Partners LLC now owns 579,849 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $15,383,000 after buying an additional 132,312 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PFE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised shares of Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.92.

Pfizer Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of PFE opened at $25.87 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $146.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.34, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a one year low of $24.48 and a one year high of $31.54. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.10 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 121.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock purchased 19,457 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $710,684.55. This trade represents a 235.84 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.