Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $64.14 Million Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,417,446 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 83,017 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $64,135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,745,831 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $166,284,000 after purchasing an additional 37,636 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Pfizer in the third quarter valued at about $144,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Pfizer by 55.9% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 422,143 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $12,217,000 after buying an additional 151,293 shares during the period. Eastern Bank boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 481.4% during the third quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 107,466 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,110,000 after buying an additional 88,982 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 19.1% in the 3rd quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. now owns 41,106 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,181,000 after acquiring an additional 6,586 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Pfizer

In other news, Director Ronald E. Blaylock purchased 19,457 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $25.65 per share, for a total transaction of $499,072.05. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 27,707 shares in the company, valued at $710,684.55. The trade was a 235.84 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI raised Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com cut Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Pfizer from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pfizer currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.92.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of PFE stock opened at $25.87 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $146.58 billion, a PE ratio of 18.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.48 and a 12 month high of $31.54. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.45. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.63 EPS 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 company had revenue of $17.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities 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 dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.65%. This is a boost from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 121.99%.

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.