How to check whether a dividend is covered with ChatGPT or Claude: Pfizer's payout, line by line

All outputs are real tool calls to the Equibles MCP server from 21 October 2026, trimmed.

A dividend yield is a payment divided by a price. Whether the company earns, and actually generates, the cash to keep paying it is a separate question, and a rough answer takes four numbers.

Here's the workflow with an AI agent, run on Pfizer, whose yield was 5.7% at the 20 October close.

Connect it first

In Claude, open Customize → Connectors → Discover, search for Equibles, click Connect to Claude and Authorize, then switch it on in a chat from + → Connectors. In ChatGPT: Plugins, search Equibles, Install plugin. In Claude Code, claude mcp add --transport http equibles https://mcp.equibles.com/mcp and then /mcp to sign in. The free plan covers 100 requests a day; other clients are in the setup docs.

1. Start with the dividend record

The prompt: "Using Equibles, show Pfizer's dividend history and annualise it." GetDividendHistory returns 28 ex-dates, starting in 2020:

Year	Per quarter	Per year
2020	$0.36	$1.44
2021	$0.39	$1.56
2022	$0.40	$1.60
2023	$0.41	$1.64
2024	$0.42	$1.68
2025	$0.43	$1.72
2026	$0.43	$1.72

The 2026 row includes the declared 6 November ex-date. It's the first year in the stored record without a higher quarterly amount. At $30.11, $1.72 a year is a 5.71% yield.

2. Compare it with earnings

"What was Pfizer's diluted EPS for the last three years?" GetFinancialFact with eps-diluted: $0.37 for 2023, $1.41 for 2024, $1.36 for 2025.

Against $1.72 of dividends per share, 2025's payout is 126% of GAAP earnings. GAAP earnings include non-cash charges such as amortisation, though, so the next check uses cash.

3. Compare it with free cash flow

"Show Pfizer's 2025 cash-flow statement." GetFinancialStatement with statement=cashflow: operating cash flow $11.70B and capital expenditures $2.63B, so free cash flow of $9.08B.

Cash dividends paid isn't one of the standard line items in the structured data. When a number isn't there, read the filing: SearchDocument on the 2025 10-K for "cash dividends paid" returns the exact line from the cash-flow statement, in millions for 2025, 2024 and 2023:

| Cash dividends paid | (9,771) | (9,512) | (9,247) |

Put the three years side by side:

Year	Operating cash flow	Capex	Free cash flow	Dividends paid	Dividends / FCF
2023	$8.70B	$3.91B	$4.79B	$9.25B	193%
2024	$12.74B	$2.91B	$9.84B	$9.51B	97%
2025	$11.70B	$2.63B	$9.08B	$9.77B	108%

4. Check the balance sheet

"Show Pfizer's long-term debt for the last four balance sheets, and its 2025 borrowing."

• Long-term debt: $57.41B at 28 September 2025, $61.64B at year-end, $60.57B at 29 March 2026 and $60.50B at 28 June 2026 (GetFinancialFact with long-term-debt).
• In 2025 it issued $9.68B of debt and repaid $6.76B, and spent $6.93B on acquisitions (the same cash-flow statement).

So in 2025 Pfizer paid $9.77B in dividends and $6.93B for acquisitions against $9.08B of free cash flow, and issued $2.92B more debt than it repaid. That's the observation. What the board does with it is another matter.

The prompt I reuse

Using Equibles, for <TICKER>:
1. Show the dividend history, annualise the latest amount and give the
   yield at the last close.
2. Compare dividends per share with diluted EPS for 3 years.
3. Compute free cash flow (operating cash flow minus capex) for 3 years
   and compare it with cash dividends paid. If dividends paid isn't a
   structured line, find it in the latest 10-K and quote the line.
4. Show long-term debt for the last 4 balance sheets.

What coverage ratios can't tell you

• The board's decision. Dividends are declared quarter by quarter, and past coverage doesn't bind the next one.
• The normal year. 2023's free cash flow was about half of 2024's, so a single year can mislead in either direction.
• Adjusted earnings. Companies often talk about adjusted EPS, which can cover a dividend that GAAP EPS doesn't. Both are worth reading.

The statements are on Pfizer's financials page, and the 10-K itself is in Pfizer's documents.

Nothing here is investment advice.