Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $263.02 Million Stock Holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 12.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,088,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,349,308 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.16% of Pfizer worth $263,016,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pfizer in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Pfizer in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Pfizer in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Pfizer during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Finally, ESL Trust Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pfizer during the 1st quarter worth $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PFE. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Daiwa America upgraded Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays increased their price target on Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.58.

Insider Activity at Pfizer

In other Pfizer news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $282,400. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Pfizer Trading Up 0.4 %

Pfizer stock opened at $27.46 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $28.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.20 and a 12 month high of $31.54. The stock has a market cap of $155.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.67.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.40% and a net margin of 7.07%. Pfizer’s revenue was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.17) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.12%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 227.03%.

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.