How to buy, sell and short Pfizer shares

How to buy or invest in Pfizer shares

There are two key ways of getting exposure to a company’s share price: investing and trading. Investing involves buying physical stock in the company in the hope the price will increase, while trading means speculating on its share price movements without taking ownership.

Follow the steps below to invest in or trade on Pfizer shares:

How much would it cost to invest in Pfizer?

Pfizer is part of our ‘best commission on US shares’ promise, which means you’ll qualify for zero commission if you have opened three or more positions on US stocks in the previous month.

Even if you don’t yet qualify for our best rate, you’ll pay just £10 commission as standard. Plus, we offer low FX conversion fees from non-USD accounts. That makes buying Pfizer shares with IG more cost-effective than almost any other investment platform online.

Instead of investing, you can choose to trade on the Pfizer share price with CFDs. These products offer the following benefits:

• Get full exposure with a small deposit – usually just 20% of the full value of the trade¹
• Enjoy extended hours on Pfizer shares so you can trade when announcements happen: 9am to 1am (UK time)
• Hedge your positions with CFDs and offset losses against profits for tax purposes²

How to sell or short Pfizer shares

It’s possible to sell physical Pfizer shares through IG, even if you bought them through another provider. You can do this by transferring them to us for free.

You can also back Pfizer’s share price to fall by shorting or going short. Consider shorting Pfizer shares via CFDs if you:

1. Want to speculate on Pfizer’s share price. If you believe the value of Pfizer shares will go down, you’d put in a ‘sell’ order
2. Already hold a ‘buy’ position or own shares in the company, but you want to hedge the portfolio with a ‘sell’ position in order to reduce risk. This is like having a backup if the market turns from bullish to bearish

Here’s how to sell or short Pfizer shares with us:

Pfizer’s live market price

Pfizer is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker PFE.

Pfizer shares: the basics

Pfizer is based in New York, however it has offices and subsidiaries all over the world – including multiple spinoff companies. That means you can speculate on the Pfizer share price directly, or on a variety of related companies.

New drugs are often the cause for spikes in value. For example, the Pfizer share price peaked in 1999 at $50.03, partly due to the launch of Viagra the previous year. And following the release of its Covid-19 vaccine in 2020, Pfizer shares reached an annual high of $42.56 in December that year.

Just over 27% of the company’s shares are owned by members of the public. The other 73% are owned by institutions. Large institutions don’t often back companies with a poor track record, so the shareholder weighting is often considered to add credibility to the stock.

What is Pfizer’s business model?

Pfizer’s business model is based on the research, production and sale of pharmaceutical drugs. These include prescription drugs and over-the-counter products. Pfizer also develops oncology solutions and healthcare products used in hospitals and treatment centres.

Pfizer has joint interests in third-party and spinoff companies. As well as a joint venture with GlaxoSmithKline, it has two subsidiaries focusing on agriculture and animals. The Agriculture Division of Pfizer and Pfizer Animal Health come under the umbrella of Zoetis.

Pfizer key personnel: who manages the company?

Pfizer share price: how to analyse Pfizer shares

Analysing Pfizer shares requires a combination of both technical analysis and fundamental analysis:

• Technical analysis: This looks at price charts, technical indicators and other statistical metrics to get a sense of where a company’s share price might go next. Technical analysis also allows you to compare points of significance in an effort to identify potential patterns
• Fundamental analysis: This looks at the fundamentals of a company, including key releases such as revenue reports, dividends and any significant changes to its business model. This type of information is available through Pfizer’s quarterly updates, and you can read the latest news via our market data page

Buying and selling Pfizer shares summed up

• You don’t have to invest in Pfizer shares to profit from their price movements. You can use CFDs to speculate on those movements instead
• Going short via CFDs enables you to make a profit if the company’s value decreases, or to hedge against existing investments
• You can transfer your existing electronic shares to us for free
• Our technical and fundamental analysis can help you get a better understanding of the Pfizer share price

Footnotes:
¹ Deposits on leveraged trades are 20%-25% for 99.14% of tier-one shares (correct as of 1 June 2020). For more information, view our share trading margin rates.
² Tax laws are subject to change and depend on individual circumstances. Tax law may differ in a jurisdiction other than the UK.