5 Dividend Stocks to Buy According to Billionaire Cliff Asness

2. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

AQR Capital’s Stake Value: $553,911,000
Percent of AQR Capital’s 13F Portfolio: 1.25%
Dividend Yield as of September 12: 3.35%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 70

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) is a New York-based multinational biotech and pharmaceutical company that develops medicines and vaccines for various diseases. The company was a part of 70 hedge fund portfolios in Q2 2022, down from 79 in the previous quarter. The stakes owned by these hedge funds hold a collective value of over $2.8 billion.

AQR Capital has been investing in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) for over a decade now and never sold its entire stake in the company over these years. The hedge fund first invested $37.6 million in the company during the fourth quarter of 2010. At the end of Q2 2022, the fund owned over 10.5 million PFE shares, worth roughly $554 million. The company made up 1.25% of billionaire Cliff Asness’ portfolio.

In June, Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share, in line with its previous dividend. The company has been raising its dividends consistently for the past 12 years and its free cash flow generation signals future growth as well. As of September 12, the stock has a yield of 3.35%.

ClearBridge Investments mentioned Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) in its Q4 2021 investor letter. Here is what the firm had to say:

“While the level of general turnover abated as we progressed through 2021, it remained high in one area: post-COVID-19 recovery plays. The concept behind this investment thesis was, and still is, straightforward: with the advent of effective vaccines, the path from pandemic to endemic is just a matter of time. As this transition occurs, the estimated excess savings of over $2 trillion built up on U.S. consumer balance sheets will unlock dramatic pent-up demand for experiences, especially global travel. This investment case seemed especially compelling when the Pfizer vaccine positively surprised markets in November 2020. As a result, we made post-COVID-19 stocks (which were trading well below our estimate of recovery value) a sizable theme within the portfolio. We understood this to be a more aggressive tilt in positioning because it required a major improvement in demand to catalyze fundamentals and drive price toward higher business values. While we accepted that recovery would not be smooth and that it would take time to deploy vaccines both domestically and globally, we decided that recovery was the logical path of least resistance and we were being well compensated for these risks. (Click here for the full text)