Aljian Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 11,459 Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Aljian Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 11,459 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $332,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Pfizer by 279.3% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,378,173 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $150,481,000 after acquiring an additional 8,378,173 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Pfizer in the 1st quarter valued at about $172,902,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Pfizer during the third quarter worth about $146,481,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Pfizer by 24,961.6% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,497,886 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $69,891,000 after purchasing an additional 2,487,919 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in Pfizer by 120.7% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 4,498,313 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $130,181,000 after buying an additional 2,459,666 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on PFE shares. Daiwa America upgraded Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Pfizer in a report on Friday. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $282,400. This represents a 11.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of PFE stock opened at $24.80 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.67. Pfizer Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.48 and a 12-month high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The company had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.92 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.17) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.77%. Pfizer’s payout ratio is 227.03%.

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.