CenterBook Partners LP Has $12.65 Million Stock Holdings in Pfizer Inc. $PFE

CenterBook Partners LP increased its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 283.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 496,601 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 367,145 shares during the quarter. CenterBook Partners LP’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $12,653,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Pfizer in the second quarter valued at about $2,270,157,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Pfizer by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 533,363,457 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $12,928,730,000 after buying an additional 10,198,330 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Pfizer by 43.4% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 18,718,955 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $453,747,000 after buying an additional 5,662,309 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 75.0% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,689,103 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $221,398,000 after acquiring an additional 3,722,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of Pfizer by 84.9% during the second quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 7,561,946 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $183,302,000 after acquiring an additional 3,472,240 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PFE. Daiwa Securities Group lowered shares of Pfizer from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. HSBC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Finally, Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $30.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pfizer has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.00.

Pfizer Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:PFE opened at $27.37 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.28. Pfizer Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.92 and a 52-week high of $27.94. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.26. The company has a market capitalization of $155.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.13 and a beta of 0.47.

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

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The company 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 6.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 23rd. Pfizer’s payout ratio is currently 126.47%.

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.