Topic: How To Invest

Dividend Advisor Hotline – Friday, January 4, 2019

Article Excerpt

PFIZER INC., $43.00, New York symbol PFE, is one of the world’s largest makers of prescription drugs. Its top-selling brands include Lyrica (epilepsy), Celebrex (arthritis pain), Prevnar (pneumonia) and Enbrel (rheumatoid arthritis). Starting with the March 2019 payment, Pfizer will increase its quarterly dividend by 5.9%, to $0.36 a share from $0.34. The new annual rate of $1.44 yields 3.3%. The company has now agreed to merge its Consumer Healthcare division, which makes medications such as Advil (pain relief), Centrum (vitamins) and Robitussin (cough syrup), with the consumer business of U.K.-based GlaxoSmithKline plc (New York symbol GSK). Pfizer will own 32% of this new joint venture, which will be the world’s largest seller of over-the-counter drugs with annual sales of $12.7 billion. The company expects to complete the transaction in the second half of 2019. Glaxo, which will own the remaining 68%, intends to either hand out its shares in the new company to its shareholders or sell them through an IPO within five…