Argus Upgrades Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) to “Buy”

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) was upgraded by investment analysts at Argus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Monday,Finviz reports. The brokerage presently has a $35.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Argus’ target price indicates a potential upside of 26.78% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Pfizer from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Pfizer from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 15th. Scotiabank began coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $30.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pfizer has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.05.

Pfizer Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of Pfizer stock opened at $27.61 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Pfizer has a 52-week low of $20.92 and a 52-week high of $27.94. The company has a market capitalization of $156.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.30 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a 50 day moving average of $26.13 and a 200 day moving average of $25.41.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $17.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.93 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 12.42% and a return on equity of 20.48%. The company’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Pfizer will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Pfizer

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Pfizer in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,270,157,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 89,113,604 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,218,929,000 after acquiring an additional 14,342,946 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 38.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 48,514,971 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,208,023,000 after acquiring an additional 13,581,757 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $12,928,730,000 after acquiring an additional 10,198,330 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Pfizer by 47.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 25,070,148 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $638,787,000 after purchasing an additional 8,108,887 shares during the period. 68.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.