Cantor Fitzgerald Reaffirms Overweight Rating for Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by research analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $45.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 51.16% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Pfizer from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $34.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Daiwa America upgraded Pfizer from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Pfizer from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Pfizer from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.54.

Pfizer Price Performance

Shares of PFE traded up $0.50 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $29.77. 11,514,554 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 37,963,418. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.86. Pfizer has a 12-month low of $25.20 and a 12-month high of $34.12. The company has a market cap of $168.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -496.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.68. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $29.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.13.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $13.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.96 billion. Pfizer had a positive return on equity of 8.42% and a negative net margin of 4.66%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.67 EPS. Research analysts expect that Pfizer will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pfizer

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PFE. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Pfizer by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 239,209,768 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,886,849,000 after purchasing an additional 11,099,024 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in Pfizer by 279.3% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,378,173 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $150,481,000 after purchasing an additional 8,378,173 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Pfizer during the first quarter worth approximately $172,902,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Pfizer by 181.6% during the first quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,670,445 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $212,855,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ruffer LLP lifted its stake in Pfizer by 248.7% during the fourth quarter. Ruffer LLP now owns 5,796,012 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $166,837,000 after purchasing an additional 4,133,786 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

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.