Investors Buy High Volume of Pfizer Put Options (NYSE:PFE)

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors bought 190,700 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 24% compared to the average volume of 153,947 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on PFE shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Friday, October 25th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 target price for the company. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pfizer currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.58.

Insider Transactions at Pfizer

In other Pfizer news, Director Scott Gottlieb acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $282,400. The trade was a 11.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pfizer

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its position in Pfizer by 394.2% in the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 52,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,512,000 after buying an additional 41,668 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in Pfizer by 4.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 13,118,764 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $379,657,000 after buying an additional 544,418 shares in the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation boosted its position in Pfizer by 2.5% in the second quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 742,875 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $20,786,000 after buying an additional 18,274 shares in the last quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Pfizer in the third quarter worth about $2,972,000. Finally, Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 2.4% in the third quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 1,168,315 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $33,811,000 after acquiring an additional 27,562 shares during the last quarter. 68.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pfizer Stock Performance

NYSE PFE traded down $0.70 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $26.02. The company had a trading volume of 43,752,656 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,804,309. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market cap of $147.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.67. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.67. Pfizer has a fifty-two week low of $25.20 and a fifty-two week high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.42. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The company had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.92 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.17) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Pfizer will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.46%. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 227.03%.

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.