Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 39,840 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System trimmed its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) by 13.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 265,139 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 39,840 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in Pfizer were worth $6,719,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PFE. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 0.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 4,629,976 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 58,382,560 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,548,889,000 after acquiring an additional 4,167,222 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 39,402,619 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,045,351,000 after acquiring an additional 1,333,740 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 28,239,197 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $715,581,000 after acquiring an additional 1,846,436 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 51.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 26,456,457 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $670,407,000 after acquiring an additional 9,041,990 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PFE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Pfizer from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Pfizer from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Berenberg Bank dropped their target price on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Redburn Atlantic dropped their target price on shares of Pfizer from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, HSBC lowered their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $28.12.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of PFE stock opened at $24.25 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $24.42 and a 200-day moving average of $24.52. The company has a market cap of $137.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Pfizer Inc. has a one year low of $20.92 and a one year high of $30.43.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $14.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.43 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 16.84% and a return on equity of 21.42%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 25th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 25th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.1%. Pfizer's dividend payout ratio is currently 91.49%.

Pfizer 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.

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