Pfizer Inc. $PFE Shares Bought by Aberdeen Group plc

Aberdeen Group plc grew its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,870,254 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 597,643 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc owned about 0.10% of Pfizer worth $144,849,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFE. Fiduciary Alliance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 46.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 145,263 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,701,000 after acquiring an additional 46,043 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Pfizer during the third quarter valued at about $3,019,000. Vista Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Pfizer by 236.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 69,613 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,774,000 after purchasing an additional 48,900 shares during the period. Money Concepts Capital Corp increased its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 29.9% in the 3rd quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 248,251 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,325,000 after purchasing an additional 57,188 shares during the period. Finally, Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 76.4% during the 3rd quarter. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. now owns 109,269 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,784,000 after purchasing an additional 47,319 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PFE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Zacks Research downgraded Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $30.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.00.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of PFE stock opened at $27.58 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.19. Pfizer Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.92 and a 52 week high of $27.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market cap of $156.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.28 and a beta of 0.47.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $17.56 billion during 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 20.25%. Pfizer’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, January 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 23rd. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.47%.

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.