Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Raises Stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 2.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 739,236 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,140 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Pfizer were worth $20,684,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PFE. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Pfizer by 4.9% in 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 raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,241,609 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Pfizer by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,104,088 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $450,593,000 after purchasing an additional 290,760 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in Pfizer by 3.3% in the 2nd 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. grew 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 valued at $287,077,000 after buying an additional 238,850 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on PFE shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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, Daiwa America upgraded Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a 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 MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.54.

Pfizer Stock Performance

NYSE:PFE opened at $29.31 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.09 billion, a PE ratio of -488.42, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.68. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $29.36 and its 200 day moving average is $28.26. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.20 and a fifty-two week high of $34.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $13.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 26th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 26th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.73%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -2,799.53%.

About Pfizer

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.