Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) Trading Up 3.7% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) shot up 3.7% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $28.44 and last traded at $28.2470. 59,373,284 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 41% from the average daily volume of 42,257,406 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.25.

Trending Headlines about Pfizer

Here are the key news stories impacting Pfizer this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investor enthusiasm over cancer vaccines: Merck and Moderna reported positive recurrence-free-survival results for their personalized mRNA cancer-vaccine combination with Keytruda in melanoma patients. Although Pfizer was not involved in the trial, the data strengthened confidence in the commercial potential of mRNA-based cancer treatments and lifted Pfizer alongside related companies. Pfizer Stock Rises Wednesday: What’s Going On?
• Positive Sentiment: Heavy call-option activity: Investors bought 170,284 Pfizer call options, roughly 47% above typical daily volume, signaling increased short-term bullish positioning and potentially amplifying the stock’s upward momentum.
• Positive Sentiment: Lyme-vaccine regulatory progress: The European Medicines Agency validated Pfizer and Valneva’s marketing-authorization application for their Lyme disease vaccine candidate, allowing the application to proceed to full review. The filing provides a potential future growth catalyst beyond Pfizer’s established products. Pfizer Gets EMA Lyme Vaccine Filing Validation
• Neutral Sentiment: Obesity opportunity remains unproven: Pfizer is seeking market share in the highly competitive obesity-drug market with monthly berobenatide. Success could diversify revenue, but the company must still demonstrate competitive efficacy, safety, and commercial execution against established GLP-1 therapies. Pfizer’s Obesity Push
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive and patent concerns persist: Merck’s deeper investment in personalized cancer vaccines raises the competitive bar for Pfizer, while analysts continue to flag Pfizer’s looming patent cliff as a longer-term earnings risk. These issues may limit the durability of the current rally. Merck Just Raised the Stakes for Pfizer’s Cancer Vaccine Ambitions

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PFE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a report on Thursday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Pfizer from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.28.

Pfizer Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $161.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.17 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.21.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.09. Pfizer had a net margin of 6.80% and a return on equity of 19.63%. The business had revenue of $15.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.40 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Pfizer has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.800-3.000 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.98 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 24th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 24th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 226.32%.

Institutional Trading of Pfizer

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PFE. Godfrey Financial Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Pfizer in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Keb Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pfizer in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Field & Main Bank purchased a new position in shares of Pfizer in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. HFM Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Pfizer by 61.0% in the 4th quarter. HFM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 427 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evolution Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Pfizer by 132.2% during the 1st quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. now owns 994 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 566 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

About Pfizer

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.