Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) Now Covered by Scotiabank

Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a sector outperform rating and a $30.00 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on PFE. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Pfizer from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Bank of America upped their target price on Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given 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 company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.28.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of Pfizer stock traded down $0.72 during trading on Thursday, hitting $25.08. 96,420,538 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 51,206,027. The stock has a market cap of $142.57 billion, a PE ratio of 13.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.54. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $24.79 and its 200 day moving average is $24.43. Pfizer has a 12 month low of $20.92 and a 12 month high of $27.69. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $16.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Pfizer will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 7th. Pfizer’s payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pfizer

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Pfizer during the second quarter valued at $2,270,157,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Pfizer by 856.8% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 20,053,828 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $508,164,000 after acquiring an additional 17,957,928 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 43.4% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 52,090,403 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,265,277,000 after purchasing an additional 15,758,846 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pfizer in the first quarter worth approximately $389,861,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 1.9% during the second 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.