Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) Trading Up 1.1% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) shot up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Friday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $28.00 to $30.00. Bank of America currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Pfizer traded as high as $27.69 and last traded at $27.37. 70,256,539 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 50% from the average session volume of 46,742,602 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.08.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Pfizer from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Pfizer from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Pfizer from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.41.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Pfizer by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 533,363,457 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $12,928,730,000 after acquiring an additional 10,198,330 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Pfizer by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 127,471,481 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,080,552,000 after acquiring an additional 1,820,634 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Pfizer in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,270,157,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Pfizer by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 62,325,957 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,579,340,000 after acquiring an additional 3,943,397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 15,758,846 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pfizer Price Performance

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.16. The company has a market capitalization of $155.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.55.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $14.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.43 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 21.42% and a net margin of 16.84%.Pfizer’s revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. Pfizer has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.900-3.100 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

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.