Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) Trading Down 1.1%

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)’s stock price fell 1.1% on Friday . The company traded as low as $29.28 and last traded at $29.32. 10,945,533 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 37,701,453 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.66.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PFE has been the topic of several research reports. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Pfizer from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.54.

Pfizer Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $166.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -488.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.20.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.14. Pfizer had a positive return on equity of 8.42% and a negative net margin of 4.66%. The business had revenue of $13.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.96 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.67 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 26th were issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 26th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.73%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -2,799.53%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pfizer

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PFE. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 60.3% in the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 583,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $16,329,000 after buying an additional 219,600 shares in the last quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 21.3% in the 2nd quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC now owns 536,745 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $15,018,000 after buying an additional 94,152 shares in the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 11.8% in the 2nd quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 531,036 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $14,858,000 after buying an additional 56,071 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 21.1% in the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 18,462 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $517,000 after buying an additional 3,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bluefin Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bluefin Capital Management LLC now owns 10,569 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 869 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Company Profile

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.