Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Sells 21,537 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co trimmed its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 2.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,043,363 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 21,537 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $29,193,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFE. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 25,651 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $738,000 after purchasing an additional 945 shares during the period. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in Pfizer by 43.7% in the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 26,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $861,000 after purchasing an additional 8,194 shares during the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Pfizer by 377.2% in the fourth quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 1,001,251 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $28,826,000 after buying an additional 791,452 shares during the period. Qsemble Capital Management LP bought a new position in Pfizer during the fourth quarter worth about $1,200,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Pfizer by 1,903.1% during the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 155,921 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,489,000 after buying an additional 148,137 shares during the period. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. 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 report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Daiwa America upgraded Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Pfizer from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $34.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.54.

Pfizer Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE PFE traded up $0.05 during trading on Friday, hitting $28.56. The stock had a trading volume of 31,214,484 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,328,773. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.20 and a 12 month high of $34.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $29.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.05. The company has a market capitalization of $161.84 billion, a PE ratio of -476.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.68.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $13.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.96 billion. Pfizer had a negative net margin of 4.66% and a positive return on equity of 8.42%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 26th were issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 26th. Pfizer’s payout ratio is -2,800.00%.

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.