VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Buys New Holdings in Pfizer Inc. $PFE

Key Points

• Virginia Retirement Systems purchased a new stake in Pfizer Inc., acquiring 395,300 shares valued at approximately $9,582,000 during the second quarter.
• Institutional investors hold 68.36% of Pfizer's stock, with notable increases in holdings from firms such as Vanguard Group Inc. and Northern Trust Corp.
• Pfizer recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.43 per share, equating to an annualized yield of 7.0%, payable on December 1st to stockholders of record on November 7th.

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 395,300 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $9,582,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 4,629,976 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 3,943,397 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 15,758,846 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 838,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 7.0% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 28,239,197 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $715,581,000 after purchasing an additional 1,846,436 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on PFE shares. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Pfizer from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Pfizer from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, September 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pfizer currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $28.13.

Pfizer Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE PFE opened at $24.68 on Tuesday. Pfizer Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.92 and a 1 year high of $29.22. The firm has a market cap of $140.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.13, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.55. 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 stock's 50-day simple moving average is $24.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.12.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $13.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter 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, equities analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th 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 7.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. Pfizer's payout ratio is presently 91.49%.

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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