Pfizer Inc. $PFE Shares Sold by Pallas Capital Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Pallas Capital Advisors LLC has reduced its stake in Pfizer Inc. by 38.0%, selling 19,055 shares and now owns 31,106 shares valued at $754,000.
• A number of analysts have recently upgraded their ratings on Pfizer, with Wall Street Zen moving it from a "hold" to a "buy", while the average price target is set at $28.12.
• Pfizer reported earnings of $0.78 per share for the last quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.43 per share.

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) by 38.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,106 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 19,055 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Pfizer were worth $754,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. 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 acquiring an additional 4,629,976 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 62,325,957 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,579,340,000 after acquiring an additional 3,943,397 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 43.4% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 52,090,403 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,265,277,000 after acquiring an additional 15,758,846 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 30,296,337 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $767,709,000 after acquiring an additional 838,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 7.0% in 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company's stock.

Pfizer Trading Down 0.5%

PFE stock traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $24.03. 86,201,583 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 39,901,288. Pfizer Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.92 and a 52-week high of $30.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.16. The business has a 50 day moving average of $24.63 and a 200-day moving average of $24.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.55.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.20. Pfizer had a return on equity of 21.42% and a net margin of 16.84%.The business had revenue of $14.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Pfizer has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.900-3.100 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, July 25th were issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 25th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.2%. Pfizer's payout ratio is presently 91.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PFE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised their target price on Pfizer from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Pfizer from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Pfizer from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Berenberg Bank decreased their price target on Pfizer from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Pfizer from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $28.12.

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.