Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the twenty-one research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fourteen have assigned a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $28.00.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on PFE shares. Daiwa Securities Group downgraded Pfizer from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $27.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday. Daiwa America downgraded Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Pfizer from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 12th.

Institutional Trading of Pfizer

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Pfizer by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 113,987 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,838,000 after purchasing an additional 5,334 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 279,992 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,972,000 after purchasing an additional 29,010 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Pfizer by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,705,286 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $42,462,000 after buying an additional 128,543 shares in the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Pfizer by 457.5% during the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,798 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $219,000 after buying an additional 7,220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its holdings in Pfizer by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 73,422 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,828,000 after buying an additional 3,616 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PFE opened at $27.58 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $156.78 billion, a PE ratio of 20.28 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $25.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.19. Pfizer has a 1 year low of $20.92 and a 1 year high of $27.94.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.09. Pfizer had a net margin of 12.42% and a return on equity of 20.25%. The business had revenue of $17.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Pfizer will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 23rd. Pfizer’s payout ratio is 126.47%.

Pfizer Company Profile

Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) is a multinational biopharmaceutical company headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1849 by Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart, the company researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes a broad range of medicines and vaccines for human health. Its activities span discovery research, clinical development, regulatory affairs, manufacturing and global commercial distribution across multiple therapeutic areas.

Pfizer’s portfolio and pipeline cover oncology, immunology, cardiology, endocrinology, rare diseases, hospital acute care and anti-infectives, along with a substantial vaccine business.