Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) Increases Dividend to $0.43 Per Share

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 12th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of 0.43 per share by the biopharmaceutical company on Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.78%. This is a boost from Pfizer's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42.

Pfizer has raised its dividend payment by an average of 2.6% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 15 years. Pfizer has a payout ratio of 58.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Pfizer to earn $2.94 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 57.1%.

Pfizer Stock Performance

Shares of PFE stock traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $25.37. The company had a trading volume of 38,659,553 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,533,098. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $27.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.31. Pfizer has a 52-week low of $24.48 and a 52-week high of $31.54. The stock has a market cap of $143.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.37, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $17.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 7.07%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.17) earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Pfizer will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PFE has been the subject of several research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Pfizer in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup initiated coverage on Pfizer in a report on Friday, October 25th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $30.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com cut Pfizer from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price target on Pfizer from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have 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 a consensus price target of $32.43.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pfizer

In other news, Director Scott Gottlieb purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $282,400. The trade was a 11.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.

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