Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 539,824 call options on the company. This is an increase of 286% compared to the average daily volume of 139,867 call options.

Institutional Trading of Pfizer

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PFE. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Pfizer during the 4th quarter valued at $2,328,986,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $508,164,000 after buying an additional 17,957,928 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in shares of Pfizer by 43.4% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 52,090,403 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,265,277,000 after buying an additional 15,758,846 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pfizer during the 1st quarter valued at $389,861,000. Finally, Starboard Value LP purchased a new stake in shares of Pfizer during the 4th quarter valued at $407,730,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PFE shares. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Leerink Partners reduced their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Pfizer from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Pfizer from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Pfizer from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pfizer currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $28.55.

Pfizer Price Performance

NYSE PFE traded down $0.21 on Friday, hitting $24.71. The stock had a trading volume of 16,200,353 shares, compared to its average volume of 45,309,480. Pfizer has a 52-week low of $20.92 and a 52-week high of $31.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $140.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $24.26 and a 200-day moving average of $24.70.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.25. Pfizer had a net margin of 12.62% and a return on equity of 20.33%. The business had revenue of $13.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Pfizer will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 25th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 25th. Pfizer's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 124.64%.

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.