Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) Earns Sector Outperform Rating from Analysts at Scotiabank

Investment analysts at Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm set a “sector outperform” rating and a $30.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Scotiabank’s target price indicates a potential upside of 14.74% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on PFE. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Pfizer from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 28th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Pfizer from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.28.

Pfizer Price Performance

Pfizer stock traded up $0.28 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $26.15. The company had a trading volume of 40,437,063 shares, compared to its average volume of 50,614,082. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.42. The company has a market cap of $148.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.54. Pfizer has a fifty-two week low of $20.92 and a fifty-two week high of $27.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.08. Pfizer had a return on equity of 21.42% and a net margin of 16.84%.The company had revenue of $16.65 billion during 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 research analysts predict that Pfizer will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Pfizer

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Pfizer in the 2nd quarter worth $2,270,157,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 856.8% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 20,053,828 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $508,164,000 after acquiring an additional 17,957,928 shares during the period. Amundi raised its position in shares of Pfizer by 43.4% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 52,090,403 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,265,277,000 after acquiring an additional 15,758,846 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pfizer in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $389,861,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pfizer by 1.9% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 533,363,457 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $12,928,730,000 after purchasing an additional 10,198,330 shares in the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.