Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 5,079,768 Shares of Pfizer Inc. $PFE

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lessened its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 50.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,966,572 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 5,079,768 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.09% of Pfizer worth $120,390,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Pfizer by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 523,165,127 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $13,257,004,000 after buying an additional 4,629,976 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Pfizer by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 62,325,957 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,579,340,000 after purchasing an additional 3,943,397 shares during the period. Amundi increased its position in Pfizer by 43.4% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 52,090,403 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,265,277,000 after purchasing an additional 15,758,846 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Pfizer by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 30,296,337 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $767,709,000 after purchasing an additional 838,198 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Pfizer by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 28,239,197 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $715,581,000 after purchasing an additional 1,846,436 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Berenberg Bank cut their target price on Pfizer from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Pfizer from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Pfizer from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Pfizer from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Pfizer currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.12.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of Pfizer stock opened at $24.03 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $136.62 billion, a PE ratio of 12.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.55. The business has a 50 day moving average of $24.63 and a 200 day moving average of $24.22. Pfizer Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.92 and a 52 week high of $30.43.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.20. Pfizer had a return on equity of 21.42% and a net margin of 16.84%.The firm had revenue of $14.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Pfizer has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.900-3.100 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 25th were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 25th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 91.49%.

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.