Meridian Wealth Partners LLC Buys 1,664 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Meridian Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 18.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,737 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,664 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $300,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PFE. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Pfizer by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 239,209,768 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,886,849,000 after buying an additional 11,099,024 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 3.2% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 71,794,056 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,008,798,000 after acquiring an additional 2,241,609 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 1.8% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,104,088 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $450,593,000 after acquiring an additional 290,760 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Pfizer by 3.3% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 14,923,545 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $417,561,000 after purchasing an additional 470,003 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Pfizer by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,260,067 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $287,077,000 after purchasing an additional 238,850 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of PFE opened at $29.83 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.18. Pfizer Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.20 and a 52-week high of $34.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $169.04 billion, a PE ratio of -497.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.68.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.14. Pfizer had a negative net margin of 4.66% and a positive return on equity of 8.42%. The company had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.67 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 26th were paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 26th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is -2,799.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PFE. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com raised shares of Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Pfizer from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pfizer has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.54.

Pfizer Profile

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.