Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Purchases 52,578 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 756,400 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 52,578 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $20,067,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $486,762,000 after purchasing an additional 100,900 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $3,766,366,000 after purchasing an additional 12,864,343 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Pfizer by 80.9% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 508,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $14,709,000 after buying an additional 227,349 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC grew its stake in Pfizer by 394.2% in the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 52,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,512,000 after buying an additional 41,668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in Pfizer by 26.0% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,105,433 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $89,872,000 after buying an additional 639,985 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. 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 research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Pfizer currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.92.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of PFE opened at $25.83 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $146.35 billion, a PE ratio of 34.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.00. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.48 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.78.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The business had revenue of $17.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.66%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is 232.44%.

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.