Davidson Investment Advisors Increases Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Davidson Investment Advisors raised its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) by 17.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 410,519 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after buying an additional 59,915 shares during the quarter. Davidson Investment Advisors' holdings in Pfizer were worth $10,403,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PFE. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Pfizer during the fourth quarter worth about $2,328,986,000. Starboard Value LP purchased a new stake in shares of Pfizer in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $407,730,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 307.5% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,046,340 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $254,574,000 after buying an additional 7,581,030 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Pfizer by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 76,502,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $2,029,604,000 after buying an additional 5,350,381 shares during the period. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its holdings in Pfizer by 1,106.0% in the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 5,619,213 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $143,967,000 after acquiring an additional 5,153,257 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on Pfizer from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Pfizer to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Leerink Partners reduced their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Pfizer from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of Pfizer from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Pfizer currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $28.55.

Pfizer Price Performance

Pfizer stock opened at $25.45 on Monday. The company's 50 day moving average is $23.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.81. The firm has a market cap of $144.66 billion, a PE ratio of 18.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.92 and a 52-week high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.25. Pfizer had a return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 12.62%. The firm had revenue of $13.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.43 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.82 earnings per share. Pfizer's revenue was down 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 25th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 25th. Pfizer's dividend payout ratio is presently 124.64%.

About Pfizer

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.

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