Argo Wealth Advisory LLC Takes Position in Pfizer Inc. $PFE

Key Points

• Argo Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake of 62,540 shares of Pfizer in the fourth quarter, valued at about $1.56 million.
• Several large institutions (Franklin Resources, Neuberger Berman, Ameriprise, AQR, Amundi) materially increased holdings, leaving 68.36% of Pfizer owned by institutional investors.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed with a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $28.45, while individual targets and ratings range from $27 (neutral) up to $36 (buy).

Argo Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 62,540 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $1,557,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PFE. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Pfizer by 47.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 25,070,148 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $638,787,000 after acquiring an additional 8,108,887 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 203.8% during the third quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 9,012,811 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $229,346,000 after acquiring an additional 6,045,763 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 48.2% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 18,373,140 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $468,174,000 after acquiring an additional 5,978,927 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 120.9% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,505,615 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $230,986,000 after acquiring an additional 5,202,884 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 10.8% during the third quarter. Amundi now owns 41,490,929 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,096,380,000 after buying an additional 4,043,413 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PFE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday. CICC Research assumed coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Thursday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $33.00 price objective for the company. Zacks Research upgraded Pfizer from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Daiwa Securities Group downgraded Pfizer from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $28.45.

Pfizer Trading Up 0.1%

Pfizer stock opened at $27.22 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $154.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.01 and a beta of 0.43. The firm's 50-day moving average is $27.27 and its 200-day moving average is $26.02. Pfizer Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.87 and a 1 year high of $28.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.16.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $17.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.93 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 12.42% and a return on equity of 20.48%. Pfizer's quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

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.

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