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

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 12th,RTT News reports. Investors 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 dividend yield of 6.78%. This is a positive change from Pfizer’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42.

Pfizer has raised its dividend by an average of 2.6% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Pfizer has a dividend payout ratio of 58.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research 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 Price Performance

Pfizer stock opened at $25.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $143.77 billion, a PE ratio of 34.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.65. Pfizer has a one year low of $24.48 and a one year high of $31.54. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.29.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $17.70 billion during 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%. Pfizer’s revenue was up 31.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.17) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Pfizer will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Pfizer in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI upgraded Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Scott Gottlieb acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $28.24 per share, with a total value of $28,240.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $282,400. This trade represents a 11.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by 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.