Here's How Many Shares of Pfizer You Must Own to Get $5,000 in Yearly Dividends

Looking for stocks that pay dividends? You may have come across pharmaceutical outfit Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) in your search. After all, its forward-looking dividend yield of 7.1% is one of the highest among blue chip stocks right now.

So how many shares of this drugmaker would you need in order to collect, say, $5,000 worth of annual dividend income? If you annualize its quarterly per-share payment of $0.43, 2,907 shares would do the trick. That's about $69,940 worth of this stock, assuming you're getting in at today's price.

The question is: Is this actually a stock you can count on to continue paying -- and growing -- its dividend?

Image source: Getty Images.

Preparing for the future

The growing concern here is the impending expiration of the patents protecting several of Pfizer's breadwinning drugs. These include the blood thinner Eliquis, cancer-fighting drugs Ibrance and Xtandi, and pneumonia vaccine Prevnar 13. All of these will lose patent protection within the next couple of years, posing a threat to roughly one-third of the company's revenue.

But take a step back and look at what the company has done -- and is doing -- to prepare for this inevitable tumble off the patent cliff. Since 2022, it has acquired Arena Pharmaceuticals, Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, Global Blood Therapeutics, Seagen, and Metsera.

These deals have brought drugs with varying degrees of readiness and marketability under Pfizer's umbrella, but they've dramatically boosted its potential in the oncology and anti-obesity markets. All told, the pharmaceutical outfit intends to bring at least eight new blockbuster drugs to market as a result of these acquisitions, although more are certainly possible.

The only catch? We won't start seeing meaningful impacts from these investments until after 2028.

All this dealmaking hasn't exactly been cheap, either. It's still arguably been worth it, though, particularly to income investors. While it may not drive widening profits or produce wild profit growth, it will provide reliable cash flow that supports continued dividend payments.

James Brumley has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Pfizer. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.