Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) Stock Price Up 1.7% – What’s Next?

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) shares traded up 1.7% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $24.57 and last traded at $24.2910. Approximately 51,843,144 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 21% from the average session volume of 42,726,938 shares. The stock had previously closed at $23.88.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on PFE shares. Weiss Ratings raised Pfizer from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. HSBC lifted their price target on Pfizer from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of Pfizer from an “underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $27.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Pfizer from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.82.

Pfizer Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $138.45 billion, a PE ratio of 18.54 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $25.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.26.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $14.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.84 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.44% and a net margin of 11.83%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.92 EPS. Pfizer has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.800-3.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.99 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 24th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.1%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is presently 131.30%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Pfizer by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 541,346,182 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $13,479,520,000 after purchasing an additional 7,031,162 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 300,445,164 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,481,085,000 after buying an additional 1,357,756 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Pfizer by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 130,192,081 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,235,642,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,728 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 89,113,604 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,218,929,000 after acquiring an additional 14,342,946 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Pfizer in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,830,986,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.