Traders Buy Large Volume of Pfizer Call Options (NYSE:PFE)

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 190,383 call options on the company. This is an increase of 16% compared to the typical daily volume of 163,526 call options.

Pfizer Price Performance

NYSE PFE opened at $24.32 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $24.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.93, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Pfizer has a 1-year low of $20.92 and a 1-year high of $28.00.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.08. Pfizer had a return on equity of 21.42% and a net margin of 16.84%.The firm had revenue of $16.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.94 billion. Pfizer has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.000-3.150 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Pfizer will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.1%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio is currently 91.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on PFE. Citigroup increased their target price on Pfizer from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Pfizer from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Pfizer currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.24.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PFE. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Pfizer by 1,282.4% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 666,318 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $17,677,000 after acquiring an additional 618,117 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 18,766 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $498,000 after buying an additional 2,087 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 13.4% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,402,113 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $263,590,000 after buying an additional 1,231,296 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Inc. OK raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 1.2% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 1,413,472 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $35,817,000 after buying an additional 17,032 shares during the period. Finally, OLD Republic International Corp raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 0.6% in the first quarter. OLD Republic International Corp now owns 1,623,700 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $41,145,000 after buying an additional 9,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.