State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Purchases 68,293 Shares of Pfizer Inc. $PFE

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its holdings in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 3.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,976,323 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 68,293 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $50,357,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Curio Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 36,600.0% in the 2nd quarter. Curio Wealth LLC now owns 1,101 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,098 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. bought a new position in Pfizer during the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pfizer in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new stake in shares of Pfizer during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pfizer during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Trading Up 0.4%

Pfizer stock opened at $27.58 on Friday. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.92 and a 12 month high of $27.94. The stock has a market cap of $156.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.28 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $25.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $17.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.93 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 20.25% and a net margin of 12.42%.Pfizer’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 23rd. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PFE shares. UBS Group assumed coverage on Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $26.00 price target for the company. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Zacks Research cut Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group downgraded Pfizer from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $27.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.00.

About Pfizer

Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) is a multinational biopharmaceutical company headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1849 by Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart, the company researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes a broad range of medicines and vaccines for human health. Its activities span discovery research, clinical development, regulatory affairs, manufacturing and global commercial distribution across multiple therapeutic areas.

Pfizer’s portfolio and pipeline cover oncology, immunology, cardiology, endocrinology, rare diseases, hospital acute care and anti-infectives, along with a substantial vaccine business.