China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 11,615 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 132.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,361 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,615 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $589,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PFE. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 2,241,609 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,104,088 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $450,593,000 after buying an additional 290,760 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 14,923,545 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $417,561,000 after buying an additional 470,003 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,260,067 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $287,077,000 after buying an additional 238,850 shares during the period. Finally, Thornburg Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,803,509 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $274,302,000 after buying an additional 912,156 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PFE. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price target on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Friday, October 25th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.58.

Pfizer Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE PFE opened at $28.47 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $29.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $161.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -61.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.67. Pfizer Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.20 and a 12-month high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $13.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.96 billion. Pfizer had a negative net margin of 4.66% and a positive return on equity of 8.42%. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.67 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.90%. Pfizer’s payout ratio is -365.21%.

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.