ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Trims Position in Pfizer Inc. $PFE

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 6.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 21,582 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,552 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $523,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Pfizer by 0.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 6.8% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 62,325,957 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,579,340,000 after purchasing an additional 3,943,397 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 43.4% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 52,090,403 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,265,277,000 after purchasing an additional 15,758,846 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 2.8% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 30,296,337 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $767,709,000 after purchasing an additional 838,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 7.0% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 28,239,197 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $715,581,000 after purchasing an additional 1,846,436 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of PFE opened at $27.37 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $155.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Pfizer Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.92 and a 1 year high of $30.43.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

PFE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Pfizer from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 28th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Pfizer from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Citigroup boosted 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. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Pfizer in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pfizer currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.41.

Pfizer Company 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.