Essex Financial Services Inc. Purchases 29,086 Shares of Pfizer Inc. $PFE

Key Points

• Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its Pfizer holdings by 14.6%, acquiring an additional 29,086 shares in the second quarter, bringing its total shares to 228,372 valued at approximately $5.5 million.
• Institutional investors own 68.36% of Pfizer, with major stakeholders like Vanguard and Amundi significantly increasing their investments in the first quarter.
• Pfizer reported a quarterly EPS of $0.78, exceeding analyst expectations, and projects an EPS guidance of 2.900-3.100 for FY 2025.

Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) by 14.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 228,372 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after acquiring an additional 29,086 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.'s holdings in Pfizer were worth $5,536,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PFE. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Pfizer by 0.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 523,165,127 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $13,257,004,000 after purchasing an additional 4,629,976 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Pfizer by 6.8% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in Pfizer by 43.4% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Pfizer by 2.8% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in Pfizer by 7.0% in the first 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 in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PFE. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Pfizer from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 20th. Berenberg Bank decreased their price target on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Pfizer from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Pfizer from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Pfizer from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $28.12.

Pfizer Stock Performance

NYSE:PFE opened at $24.07 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $136.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.55. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $24.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.18. Pfizer Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.92 and a twelve month high of $30.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.20. Pfizer had a net margin of 16.84% and a return on equity of 21.42%. The firm had revenue of $14.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. 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, research analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

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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