Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) Shares Down 1.5% – Should You Sell?

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)’s share price was down 1.5% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $27.65 and last traded at $27.83. Approximately 29,190,292 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 31% from the average daily volume of 42,178,191 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.24.

Key Stories Impacting Pfizer

Here are the key news stories impacting Pfizer this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Pfizer benefited from broader investor enthusiasm surrounding mRNA cancer vaccines after Merck and Moderna reported positive melanoma-trial results. Although Pfizer was not the developer of the reported therapy, the data may support the company’s own cancer-vaccine ambitions and helped lift sentiment toward related drugmakers. Pfizer Stock Rises Wednesday: What’s Going On?
• Positive Sentiment: Pfizer’s potential obesity treatment, berobenatide, is being positioned as a possible monthly competitor to leading GLP-1 medicines. Success could provide a major new growth avenue as older products face patent expirations. Pfizer’s Obesity Push: Can Berobenatide Take Market Share?
• Neutral Sentiment: Pfizer completed a real-world study of Ibrance in women with advanced breast cancer. The update does not yet provide new efficacy results, leaving investors focused on what evidence or regulatory implications may come next. Pfizer’s Ibrance Real-World Breast Cancer Study Wraps Up
• Negative Sentiment: Pfizer’s agreement to settle thousands of Depo-Provera lawsuits involving alleged intracranial meningiomas has renewed concerns about litigation costs, potential liabilities and the company’s legal overhang. Why Is Pfizer Settling Thousands of Legal Claims?
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts describe Pfizer’s outlook as a race between newly launched or acquired medicines and revenue losses from expiring patents. The prospect that replacement products may only offset, rather than exceed, that erosion is limiting enthusiasm for the stock. Pfizer Stock Is a Race Between New Drugs and Old Patents

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PFE. Royal Bank Of Canada raised Pfizer from an “underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $25.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of Pfizer in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Pfizer from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.28.

Pfizer Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $158.62 billion, a PE ratio of 36.62 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $25.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.23.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $15.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 19.63% and a net margin of 6.80%.Pfizer’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. Pfizer has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.800-3.000 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pfizer Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 24th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 24th. Pfizer’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 226.32%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pfizer

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFE. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pfizer by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 541,346,182 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $13,479,520,000 after buying an additional 7,031,162 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Pfizer by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 529,670,433 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $12,754,464,000 after acquiring an additional 31,412,883 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Pfizer by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 300,445,164 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,481,085,000 after acquiring an additional 1,357,756 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Pfizer by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 130,192,081 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,235,642,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,728 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Pfizer by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 89,113,604 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,218,929,000 after acquiring an additional 14,342,946 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Pfizer Company Profile

Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) is a multinational biopharmaceutical company headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1849 by Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart, the company researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes a broad range of medicines and vaccines for human health. Its activities span discovery research, clinical development, regulatory affairs, manufacturing and global commercial distribution across multiple therapeutic areas.

Pfizer’s portfolio and pipeline cover oncology, immunology, cardiology, endocrinology, rare diseases, hospital acute care and anti-infectives, along with a substantial vaccine business.