Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) Shares Purchased by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 2.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 195,950 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,240 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $5,671,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PFE. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Pfizer by 3.2% during 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. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 2.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,560,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $477,929,000 after purchasing an additional 456,168 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Pfizer by 4.1% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,553,997 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $479,073,000 after purchasing an additional 658,420 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Pfizer by 3.3% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 14,923,545 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $417,561,000 after purchasing an additional 470,003 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 13,118,764 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $379,657,000 after buying an additional 544,418 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on PFE shares. Evercore ISI raised shares of Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com raised Pfizer from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pfizer has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.92.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost 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 in the company, valued at $282,400. This trade represents a 11.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:PFE opened at $25.67 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $145.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.16, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.67. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.20 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The business had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.17) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.54%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.