ING Groep NV Decreases Stock Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

ING Groep NV cut its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 45.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 681,827 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 572,745 shares during the period. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $19,732,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Addison Advisors LLC lifted 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. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 26.0% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,105,433 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $89,872,000 after acquiring an additional 639,985 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 4.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 13,118,764 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $379,657,000 after acquiring an additional 544,418 shares during the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 2.5% during the second quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 742,875 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $20,786,000 after buying an additional 18,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Radnor Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pfizer in the third quarter valued at about $2,972,000. 68.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI raised Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Pfizer from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.58.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of Pfizer stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $282,400. This trade represents a 11.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Stock Performance

NYSE:PFE opened at $26.02 on Friday. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.20 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $28.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.16, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.67.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.17) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.03%.

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.