Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 487.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 151,062 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 125,351 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $4,008,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Pfizer by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 290,460,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,405,930,000 after purchasing an additional 3,405,539 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Pfizer by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 130,143,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,766,366,000 after acquiring an additional 12,864,343 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 117,666,245 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,392,342,000 after purchasing an additional 1,855,419 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 3.2% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 71,794,056 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,008,798,000 after acquiring an additional 2,241,609 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Pfizer by 22.4% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 38,068,879 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,101,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,977,587 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of PFE stock traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $26.79. The stock had a trading volume of 28,314,743 shares, compared to its average volume of 34,470,996. The firm has a market cap of $151.82 billion, a PE ratio of 36.20, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.04. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.48 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The firm had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.17) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a positive change from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. Pfizer’s payout ratio is presently 232.43%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on PFE. Guggenheim lowered their price target on shares of Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Pfizer in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI upgraded Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pfizer has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.00.

Insider Transactions at Pfizer

In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $282,400. The trade was a 11.11 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.