Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) Stock Price Up 1.9% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) rose 1.9% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $29.74 and last traded at $29.64. Approximately 7,338,895 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 37,173,520 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.08.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PFE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays upped their target price on Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 target price on the stock. Daiwa America upgraded Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pfizer presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.91.

Pfizer Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.89 billion, a PE ratio of -489.17, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50-day moving average of $29.04 and a 200 day moving average of $28.42.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.67 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Pfizer’s payout ratio is -2,800.00%.

Institutional Trading of Pfizer

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Pfizer by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 71,794,056 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,008,798,000 after buying an additional 2,241,609 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Pfizer by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,104,088 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $450,593,000 after buying an additional 290,760 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in Pfizer by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 14,923,545 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $417,561,000 after buying an additional 470,003 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Pfizer by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,260,067 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $287,077,000 after buying an additional 238,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thornburg Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Pfizer by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,803,509 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $274,302,000 after buying an additional 912,156 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.