Another PFE Dividend Announced
Pfizer is one of our core stock holdings. In fact, it is in our top five investments with about 5% of our investment dollars in this one company. I have been investing in PFE for over 30 years, and it has been a good journey. Cindie is the one who suggested I look at Pfizer when she worked in a hospital in Milwaukee. She worked in the urology department, and she had heard about a new medication designed specifically for men. Over the years, Pfizer has rewarded shareholders with increasing dividends. But it hasn’t always been rosy. There have been some ups and downs.
Reasons to Like Pfizer
The health care sector is certainly volatile and unpredictable. The pandemic certainly made that even more evident. I like PFE as a dividend income investment because the dividend yield is good, the payout ratio is very good, and the dividend growth is acceptable. Pfizer certainly is not a growth stock, but it is a reasonable safe long-term investment. The P/E (FWD) ratio is 6.76 and Pfizer’s EPS is a healthy $6.49 which more than covers the $1.60 annualized dividend. With a market cap of $251B, it is not likely that Pfizer will fail. In addition, because PFE is a large-cap stock, the trading volume makes it easy to enter or exit the stock if needed. There is plenty of supply and demand for PFE shares.
Because Cindie and I hold a combined 2,900 shares of PFE, we will receive a $1,160 dividend on December 5, 2022. Another way to look at this is that we will receive, hopefully, $4,640 from PFE in dividends in the next twelve months. That pays a significant portion of our total health care costs.
Is Pfizer a Business for Christian Investors?
If you look at Pfizer’s website, you may find yourself in a state of shock (if you have a biblical worldview) when you see how Pfizer’s management thinks. But if you have been watching the news, you shouldn’t really be surprised. I do not subscribe to Pfizer’s “diversity” thinking. Truth be told, most companies in the 21st century have policies and beliefs that are far afield from what I consider to be moral and acceptable. However, I recognize we live in a fallen world. I won’t intentionally do the things that run contrary to God’s purposes and glory. That doesn’t mean I cannot do business with other fallen humans.
There are ETFs that are designed to try to avoid questionable businesses. For example, there are a series of “Timothy” ETFs and mutual funds that seek to invest with higher standards in mind. The ETF called “Timothy Plan US Large/Mid Core Enhanced ETF” (TPLE), for example, tries to be different. It does not invest in PFE shares. However, this fund does invest in WDC (Western Digital). If you read WDC’s “Global Human Rights Policy” you might not agree with everything it says. So it is in a complicated, fallen world.
Nevertheless, I believe the Timothy Plan does provide food for thought if you have a biblical world view.
Timothy ETF TPLE Strives to be Different
They say this about the fund: “It is the first biblically/ethically responsible, smart-beta investment product aimed at delivering broad market exposure while tactically managing risk. The diversity of holdings is achieved through a proprietary volatility weighting methodology, and risk is managed through a tactical strategy that automatically shifts the ETF holdings from stocks to cash equivalents during periods of significant market declines.” LINK
If you want to learn more about the Timothy Plan, consider downloading this PDF: TimPlan
Another interesting (but expensive) website service is called EVALUEATOR. Here is a link if you are curious: EVALUEATOR.
UTMA Account Investments
It would not make sense for me to buy shares of PFE for our grandchildren. Rather, I purchased shares of Fidelity’s ETF FHLC. FHLC is “Fidelity MSCI Health Care Index ETF.” This ETF holds shares of PFE and about 400 other health care-related investments. Some other well-known health care ETFs include RYH and IYH. The sad reality is that none of the health care ETFs I have considered have really been the best choice. But I still like the sector and I like the diversification of the health care companies.
Do Not Conclude Your Investments Are Wrong During a Bear Market
Recessions, inflation, wars, rumors of wars, pandemics and a host of other things can make an investor question their investment choices. Please create an investment strategy with associated tactics and then stick to it. However, if you choose to be a speculator and do not have quality investments, then you would do well to heed Jessie Livermore’s caution – but don’t follow his life choices. He was one of the first successful day traders. But he was a moral wreck and ended his life by suicide on Thanksgiving Day in 1940. He did not succeed in smiling to the end. At one point he was one of the richest people in the world. He died with liabilities greater than his assets.
“We all know when we are wrong. The market will tell the speculator when he is wrong because he is losing money. When he first realizes he is wrong is the time to clear out, take his losses, try to keep smiling, study the record to determine the cause of his error, and await the next big opportunity. It is the net result over a period of time in which he is interested.” Jessie Livermore
“Again, I saw vanity under the sun: one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, ‘For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?’ This also is vanity and an unhappy business.” Ecclesiastes 4:7-8
Full Disclosure
Cindie and I own 2,900 shares of PFE as a long-term investment. As a result, it is in the top five investments we hold. VYM is our number one investment in terms of total dollars invested. This is not a recommendation for you to buy any of these, but they give insights into what I like.
Pfizer Inc. Company Profile
Pfizer Inc. discovers, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells biopharmaceutical products worldwide. It offers medicines and vaccines in various therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular metabolic and women’s health under the Premarin family and Eliquis brands; biologics, small molecules, immunotherapies, and biosimilars under the Ibrance, Xtandi, Sutent, Inlyta, Retacrit, Lorbrena, and Braftovi brands; and sterile injectable and anti-infective medicines, and oral COVID-19 treatment under the Sulperazon, Medrol, Zavicefta, Zithromax, Vfend, Panzyga, and Paxlovid brands. The company also provides medicines and vaccines in various therapeutic areas, such as pneumococcal disease, meningococcal disease, tick-borne encephalitis, and COVID-19 under the Comirnaty/BNT162b2, Nimenrix, FSME/IMMUN-TicoVac, Trumenba, and the Prevnar family brands; biosimilars for chronic immune and inflammatory diseases under the Xeljanz, Enbrel, Inflectra, Eucrisa/Staquis, and Cibinqo brands; and amyloidosis, hemophilia, and endocrine diseases under the Vyndaqel/Vyndamax, BeneFIX, and Genotropin brands. In addition, the company is involved in the contract manufacturing business. It serves wholesalers, retailers, hospitals, clinics, government agencies, pharmacies, and individual provider offices, as well as disease control and prevention centers. The company has collaboration agreements with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company; Astellas Pharma US, Inc.; Myovant Sciences Ltd.; Akcea Therapeutics, Inc; Merck KGaA; Valneva SE; BioNTech SE; and Arvinas, Inc. Pfizer Inc. was founded in 1849 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
More Resources
Know Your Flocks & Herds 
just started to read here.I have a lot of work to do.Thank you for getting me motivated.Paul
LikeLiked by 1 person