Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) Trading Down 0.7%

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)’s share price traded down 0.7% on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $29.83 and last traded at $29.86. 4,646,941 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 37,876,230 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.07.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on PFE shares. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Pfizer from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Daiwa America raised Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Pfizer currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.54.

Pfizer Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market cap of $168.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -497.58, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.15.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.14. Pfizer had a negative net margin of 4.66% and a positive return on equity of 8.42%. The business had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.67 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.65%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 26th. Pfizer’s payout ratio is -2,799.53%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pfizer

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Pfizer by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 239,209,768 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,886,849,000 after acquiring an additional 11,099,024 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Pfizer by 3.2% in the second 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 acquiring an additional 2,241,609 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted 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 purchasing an additional 290,760 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in Pfizer by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 14,923,545 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $417,561,000 after acquiring an additional 470,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,260,067 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $287,077,000 after acquiring an additional 238,850 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by 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.