Brandes Investment Partners LP Boosts Stock Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 10.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,573,282 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 516,714 shares during the period. Pfizer makes up approximately 1.9% of Brandes Investment Partners LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $155,871,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFE. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings 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 grew its position in Pfizer by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 71,794,056 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,008,798,000 after purchasing an additional 2,241,609 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Pfizer by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,104,088 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $450,593,000 after buying an additional 290,760 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in Pfizer by 3.3% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on PFE. StockNews.com raised Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Daiwa America raised shares of Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised Pfizer from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $34.00 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.54.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of Pfizer stock opened at $29.09 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $29.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.30. Pfizer Inc. has a one year low of $25.20 and a one year high of $34.11. The stock has a market cap of $164.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -484.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.68. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.96 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.67 EPS. Pfizer’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

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.