Sound Shore Management Inc. CT Acquires 279,825 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Sound Shore Management Inc. CT raised its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 10.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,836,057 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 279,825 shares during the period. Pfizer makes up approximately 2.6% of Sound Shore Management Inc. CT’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $79,353,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its holdings in Pfizer by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 25,651 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $738,000 after purchasing an additional 945 shares during the period. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 43.7% during the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 26,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $861,000 after buying an additional 8,194 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pfizer in the fourth quarter valued at about $186,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Pfizer by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 45,186 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,221,000 after acquiring an additional 973 shares during the period. Finally, TCW Group Inc. increased its position in Pfizer by 82.7% during the 4th quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 205,376 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,913,000 after purchasing an additional 92,970 shares during the period. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on PFE shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Monday, September 16th. StockNews.com raised Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Pfizer from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Pfizer currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.54.

Pfizer Stock Down 0.8 %

PFE stock opened at $29.42 on Friday. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.22. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.20 and a 12 month high of $34.11. The company has a market capitalization of $166.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -490.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.68.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.14. Pfizer had a positive return on equity of 8.42% and a negative net margin of 4.66%. The firm had revenue of $13.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.96 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.67 earnings per share. Pfizer’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 26th were issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.71%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 26th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -2,799.53%.

Pfizer Company 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.