Norges Bank Takes Position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 87,786,882 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,328,986,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PFE. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations bought a new position in shares of Pfizer during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,083,000. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd increased its position in Pfizer by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 258,310 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,853,000 after acquiring an additional 1,850 shares during the last quarter. Amica Retiree Medical Trust raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 53.5% in the fourth quarter. Amica Retiree Medical Trust now owns 17,141 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $455,000 after acquiring an additional 5,977 shares during the period. Delta Asset Management LLC TN boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN now owns 97,994 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,600,000 after purchasing an additional 13,361 shares during the period. Finally, AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Pfizer during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,081,000. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Pfizer

In other Pfizer news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock purchased 19,457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $25.65 per share, with a total value of $499,072.05. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $710,684.55. This trade represents a 235.84 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PFE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Pfizer from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Pfizer from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.92.

Pfizer Stock Down 1.4 %

PFE stock opened at $25.19 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $142.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.98. Pfizer Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.48 and a 52 week high of $31.54. 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 released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.15. Pfizer had a net margin of 12.62% and a return on equity of 19.47%. The business had revenue of $17.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.10 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.