Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Raises Stake in Pfizer Inc. $PFE

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 54.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 783,053 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 274,572 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $18,981,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Fountainhead AM LLC grew its stake in shares of Pfizer by 4.8% during the second quarter. Fountainhead AM LLC now owns 21,424 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $519,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Pfizer by 73.2% during the 2nd quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 27,283 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $653,000 after buying an additional 11,533 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Pfizer by 10.6% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,094,571 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,532,000 after acquiring an additional 104,687 shares in the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 2,721,277 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $65,964,000 after acquiring an additional 22,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SFE Investment Counsel raised its position in shares of Pfizer by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 75,230 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,824,000 after acquiring an additional 3,812 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of PFE opened at $24.45 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.16. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.92 and a fifty-two week high of $27.69. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.38. The company has a market capitalization of $138.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.08. Pfizer had a return on equity of 21.42% and a net margin of 16.84%.The firm had revenue of $16.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.94 billion. Pfizer has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.000-3.150 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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 Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.0%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on PFE shares. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Pfizer from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Pfizer has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.18.

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.