Daiwa Securities Group Downgrades Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) to Neutral

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) was downgraded by investment analysts at Daiwa Securities Group from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $27.00 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Daiwa Securities Group’s price objective suggests a potential downside of 2.09% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on PFE. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Pfizer from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 15th. UBS Group began coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $25.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $30.00 price objective for the company. Zacks Research lowered Pfizer from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Pfizer has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.00.

Pfizer Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of PFE stock opened at $27.58 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.19. Pfizer has a twelve month low of $20.92 and a twelve month high of $27.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company has a market capitalization of $156.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.28 and a beta of 0.47.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.09. Pfizer had a return on equity of 20.25% and a net margin of 12.42%.The company had revenue of $17.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Pfizer will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pfizer

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PFE. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Pfizer by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 113,987 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,838,000 after purchasing an additional 5,334 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 279,992 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,972,000 after buying an additional 29,010 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,705,286 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $42,462,000 after buying an additional 128,543 shares in the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Pfizer by 457.5% in the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,798 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $219,000 after acquiring an additional 7,220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 73,422 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,828,000 after acquiring an additional 3,616 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

About Pfizer

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.