Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. Purchases 795,933 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 19,570.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 800,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 795,933 shares during the quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $21,224,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $3,766,366,000 after purchasing an additional 12,864,343 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Pfizer by 22.4% in the third 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 buying an additional 6,977,587 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pfizer during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $146,481,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 164.2% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 7,316,405 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $211,737,000 after acquiring an additional 4,546,809 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 226.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,209,907 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $179,715,000 after acquiring an additional 4,309,076 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on PFE. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. 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 objective for the company. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pfizer presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.92.

Pfizer Trading Down 2.3 %

NYSE PFE opened at $25.83 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.90, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s fifty day moving average is $26.29 and its 200-day moving average is $27.78. 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 one year low of $24.48 and a one year high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $17.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.66%. 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 is currently 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.