Merit Financial Group LLC Grows Stake in Pfizer Inc. $PFE

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 30.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 207,849 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 48,978 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $5,038,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 11.1% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 132,478 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,358,000 after buying an additional 13,228 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Inc. OK increased its holdings in Pfizer by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 1,413,472 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $35,817,000 after acquiring an additional 17,032 shares during the last quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp bought a new stake in Pfizer in the 1st quarter valued at about $8,283,000. Westbourne Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in Pfizer during the first quarter valued at about $2,411,000. Finally, Bourne Lent Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Pfizer by 90.8% during the second quarter. Bourne Lent Asset Management Inc. now owns 38,255 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $927,000 after purchasing an additional 18,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PFE has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Pfizer from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered Pfizer from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Pfizer from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.41.

Pfizer Trading Down 3.4%

Shares of PFE stock opened at $26.45 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $150.38 billion, a PE ratio of 14.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.55. Pfizer Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.92 and a 52-week high of $30.43. The business’s fifty day moving average is $24.72 and its 200 day moving average is $24.12. 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 (NYSE:PFE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.20. Pfizer had a return on equity of 21.42% and a net margin of 16.84%.The business had revenue of $14.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Pfizer has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.900-3.100 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.