M&G PLC Decreases Position in Pfizer Inc. $PFE

M&G PLC reduced its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 546,484 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 83,970 shares during the quarter. M&G PLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $13,662,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fiduciary Alliance LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 46.4% in the third quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 145,263 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,701,000 after acquiring an additional 46,043 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Pfizer in the third quarter worth $3,019,000. Vista Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Pfizer by 236.1% in the third quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 69,613 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,774,000 after acquiring an additional 48,900 shares in the last quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp boosted its stake in Pfizer by 29.9% during the 3rd quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 248,251 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,325,000 after acquiring an additional 57,188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. grew its holdings in Pfizer by 76.4% during the 3rd quarter. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. now owns 109,269 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,784,000 after acquiring an additional 47,319 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on PFE. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Pfizer from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Pfizer in a report on Thursday, November 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $30.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Pfizer currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.00.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of PFE opened at $27.58 on Tuesday. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.92 and a 12 month high of $27.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $25.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.23. The company has a market cap of $156.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.28 and a beta of 0.47.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $17.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.93 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 20.25% and a net margin of 12.42%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 23rd will be given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 23rd. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.2%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is 126.47%.

About Pfizer

Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) is a multinational biopharmaceutical company headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1849 by Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart, the company researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes a broad range of medicines and vaccines for human health. Its activities span discovery research, clinical development, regulatory affairs, manufacturing and global commercial distribution across multiple therapeutic areas.

Pfizer’s portfolio and pipeline cover oncology, immunology, cardiology, endocrinology, rare diseases, hospital acute care and anti-infectives, along with a substantial vaccine business.