Topic: How To Invest

Dividend Advisor Hotline – Thursday, December 23, 2021

Article Excerpt

PFIZER INC., $58.71, New York symbol PFE, is a top pick for 2021. The company 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 2022 payment, Pfizer will raise your quarterly dividend by 2.6%.  Investors will then receive $0.40 a share instead of $0.39. The new annual rate of $1.60 yields a solid 2.7%. The company is now buying Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc (Nasdaq symbol ARNA). That firm is developing new treatments for inflammatory bowel diseases. Arena’s main drug, a colitis pill called etrasimod, is now in late-stage studies. The acquisition will deepen Pfizer’s development pipeline, particularly as many of its current products will lose their patent protection starting in 2026. The company will pay $6.7 billion for Arena. Pfizer can easily afford this purchase: it held cash of $29.7 billion as of October 3, 2021. It expects to complete the transaction in the first half…