Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 29.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,403,879 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,684,440 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.11% of Pfizer worth $169,895,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swiss National Bank increased its position in Pfizer by 0.6% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $486,762,000 after acquiring an additional 100,900 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Pfizer by 11.0% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Pfizer by 80.9% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 508,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $14,709,000 after acquiring an additional 227,349 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC increased its position in Pfizer by 394.2% in the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 52,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,512,000 after buying an additional 41,668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in 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 buying an additional 639,985 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on PFE shares. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $33.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com cut Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Pfizer currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.92.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock acquired 19,457 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $710,684.55. This trade represents a 235.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of Pfizer stock opened at $25.50 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $26.28 and a 200 day moving average of $27.54. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.48 and a 12 month high of $31.54. The firm has a market cap of $144.48 billion, a PE ratio of 18.08, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 12.62%. The company had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.75%. This is a positive change from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 121.99%.

About Pfizer

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.