Perpetual Ltd Raises Stock Holdings in Pfizer Inc. $PFE

Perpetual Ltd raised its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 16.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 130,052 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,660 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $3,238,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 47.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 25,070,148 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $638,787,000 after buying an additional 8,108,887 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its holdings in Pfizer by 203.8% in the 3rd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 9,012,811 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $229,346,000 after acquiring an additional 6,045,763 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Pfizer by 48.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 18,373,140 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $468,174,000 after acquiring an additional 5,978,927 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Pfizer by 120.9% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,505,615 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $230,986,000 after acquiring an additional 5,202,884 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi raised its position in Pfizer by 10.8% during the third 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 during the period. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PFE. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Monday, March 9th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. Argus upgraded Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Wolfe Research set a $24.00 price objective on Pfizer and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $27.00 target price on Pfizer and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.19.

Pfizer Stock Performance

NYSE:PFE opened at $28.37 on Friday. Pfizer Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.92 and a twelve month high of $28.75. The company has a market cap of $161.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.86 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $27.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.83.

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