Czech National Bank Acquires 74,350 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,228,716 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 74,350 shares during the quarter. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $32,598,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PFE. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Pfizer by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 290,460,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,405,930,000 after buying an additional 3,405,539 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Pfizer by 11.0% during 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 holdings in Pfizer by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 117,666,245 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,392,342,000 after acquiring an additional 1,855,419 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 3.2% in the 2nd 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 holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 6,977,587 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on PFE shares. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Pfizer in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup started coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Friday, October 25th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price target for the company. UBS Group cut their price objective on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.00.

Pfizer Price Performance

PFE opened at $26.73 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $151.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.12, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $26.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.04. Pfizer Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.48 and a twelve month high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.17) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS 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 paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.43%. This is an increase from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 232.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pfizer

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

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.