General American Investors Co. Inc. Grows Stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

General American Investors Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 27.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 540,808 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 115,000 shares during the period. General American Investors Co. Inc.’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $15,651,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PFE. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Pfizer by 3.2% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Pfizer by 2.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,560,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $477,929,000 after purchasing an additional 456,168 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in Pfizer by 3.3% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 14,923,545 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $417,561,000 after buying an additional 470,003 shares during the period. National Pension Service boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 11,516,769 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $333,295,000 after buying an additional 1,762,520 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Pfizer by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,260,067 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $287,077,000 after buying an additional 238,850 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Pfizer

In related news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of Pfizer stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $282,400. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PFE has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Friday, October 25th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price objective on the stock. Daiwa America raised Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI upgraded Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target 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. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.58.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of PFE traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $27.44. The stock had a trading volume of 2,010,174 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,283,453. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.49 billion, a PE ratio of 36.96, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $28.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.64. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.20 and a 12 month high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.40%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.17) EPS. Analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.12%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Pfizer’s payout ratio is 227.03%.

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.