Pfizer lifts value for shareholders

Article Excerpt

PFIZER INC. $42 (New York symbol PFE; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 5.8 billion; Market cap: $243.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.6; Dividend yield: 3.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pfizer.com) 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, the company will increase its quarterly dividend by 5.9%, to $0.36 a share from $0.34. The new annual rate of $1.44 yields 3.4%. Pfizer has now increased the annual rate each year since 2011. The company also announced a new $10 billion share repurchase authorization. If you include the $4.9 billion remaining under the previous plan, Pfizer can now buy back up to $14.9 billion, or about 6%, of its shares. There are no time limits for those purchases. Pfizer is a buy. buy…