Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) Trading Down 1.4% – Time to Sell?

by · The Markets Daily

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE – Get Free Report) dropped 1.4% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $24.20 and last traded at $24.3150. Approximately 163,587,334 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 237% from the average daily volume of 48,570,074 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.66.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PFE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America increased their price objective on Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Pfizer from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Pfizer from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pfizer has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.24.

Get Our Latest Research Report on PFE

Pfizer Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $138.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.55. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $24.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.31. 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 – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $16.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.94 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 16.84% and a return on equity of 21.42%. Pfizer has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.000-3.150 EPS. Research analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is 91.49%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pfizer

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Pfizer in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,270,157,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Pfizer by 856.8% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 20,053,828 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $508,164,000 after purchasing an additional 17,957,928 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in Pfizer by 43.4% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 52,090,403 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,265,277,000 after purchasing an additional 15,758,846 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Pfizer during the 1st quarter worth approximately $389,861,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 10,198,330 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

About Pfizer

(Get Free Report)

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.

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