Wright Investors Service Inc. Purchases 56,743 Shares of Pfizer Inc. $PFE

Key Points

• Wright Investors Service Inc. increased its stake in Pfizer by 252.0% in Q4, acquiring an additional 56,743 shares for a total holding of 79,263 shares worth about $1.97 million.
• Pfizer beat Q4 estimates with $0.66 EPS (vs. $0.57 expected) and revenue of $17.56 billion (vs. $16.93 billion expected), and analysts forecast roughly 2.95 EPS for the current year.
• Institutional investors own about 68.36% of Pfizer, with major managers (State Street, Northern Trust, Fisher, Legal & General, Amundi) raising stakes recently, and the Street consensus is a Hold with an average target of $28.45.

Wright Investors Service Inc. increased its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Free Report) by 252.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 79,263 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after acquiring an additional 56,743 shares during the quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc.'s holdings in Pfizer were worth $1,974,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,087,408 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $7,620,747,000 after acquiring an additional 2,786,098 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 64,019,807 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,631,225,000 after acquiring an additional 869,175 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,288,054 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,255,860,000 after acquiring an additional 897,786 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 41,741,186 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,063,565,000 after acquiring an additional 3,296,415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 41,490,929 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,096,380,000 after acquiring an additional 4,043,413 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Daiwa Securities Group lowered shares of Pfizer from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Pfizer from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, December 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $28.45.

Pfizer Stock Up 0.1%

PFE stock opened at $27.22 on Friday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $27.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.02. The company has a market capitalization of $154.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.01 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.87 and a 12 month high of $28.75.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $17.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.93 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 12.42% and a return on equity of 20.48%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

About Pfizer

Pfizer Inc NYSE: PFE is a multinational biopharmaceutical company headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1849 by Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart, the company researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes a broad range of medicines and vaccines for human health. Its activities span discovery research, clinical development, regulatory affairs, manufacturing and global commercial distribution across multiple therapeutic areas.

Pfizer's portfolio and pipeline cover oncology, immunology, cardiology, endocrinology, rare diseases, hospital acute care and anti-infectives, along with a substantial vaccine business.

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