Samlyn Capital LLC Acquires 1,446,582 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Samlyn Capital LLC lifted its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 41.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,906,703 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,446,582 shares during the quarter. Pfizer comprises approximately 2.3% of Samlyn Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Samlyn Capital LLC owned 0.09% of Pfizer worth $137,290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Pfizer by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 239,209,768 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,886,849,000 after buying an additional 11,099,024 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 3.2% in the second 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 last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 1.8% in the second 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 during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 3.3% in the second 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 last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 2.4% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,260,067 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $287,077,000 after purchasing an additional 238,850 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PFE. Barclays boosted their price target on Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Daiwa America upgraded Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised Pfizer from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Pfizer presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.54.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of PFE stock opened at $29.31 on Tuesday. Pfizer Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.20 and a 52-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. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -488.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $29.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.26.

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. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.73%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 26th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -2,799.53%.

Pfizer 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.