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

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 190,383 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 16% compared to the average daily volume of 163,526 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PFE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Pfizer from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 28th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Pfizer from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Pfizer from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.24.

Institutional Trading of Pfizer

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Pfizer by 1.9% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 533,363,457 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $12,928,730,000 after buying an additional 10,198,330 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 1.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 127,471,481 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,080,552,000 after purchasing an additional 1,820,634 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Pfizer during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,270,157,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 6.8% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 62,325,957 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,579,340,000 after purchasing an additional 3,943,397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 43.4% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 52,090,403 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,265,277,000 after purchasing an additional 15,758,846 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pfizer Stock Down 1.7%

PFE traded down $0.41 on Tuesday, hitting $24.25. The company had a trading volume of 123,872,964 shares, compared to its average volume of 48,403,309. 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 52-week low of $20.92 and a 52-week high of $28.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.55.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.08. Pfizer had a net margin of 16.84% and a return on equity of 21.42%. The business had revenue of $16.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.94 billion. Pfizer has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.000-3.150 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Pfizer will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 is Friday, November 7th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.1%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 91.49%.

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.