Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) by 0.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,371,648 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 32,231 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.11% of Pfizer worth $161,458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PFE. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 518,535,151 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $13,756,738,000 after buying an additional 2,285,276 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 120,589,782 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $3,190,131,000 after acquiring an additional 2,923,537 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Pfizer in the 4th quarter worth about $2,328,986,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Pfizer by 7.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 5,350,381 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Pfizer by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 58,382,560 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,548,889,000 after purchasing an additional 4,167,222 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Redburn Atlantic reduced their target price on shares of Pfizer from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Leerink Partners dropped their target price on Pfizer from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Pfizer from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Berenberg Bank decreased their price objective on Pfizer from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $28.55.

Pfizer Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of PFE opened at $25.45 on Friday. Pfizer Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.92 and a 1-year high of $31.54. The company has a market capitalization of $144.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $23.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.84.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.25. Pfizer had a net margin of 12.62% and a return on equity of 20.33%. The firm had revenue of $13.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. 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 payout ratio is currently 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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