10 Dogs of the Dow Dividend Stocks to Invest in

5. Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Dividend Yield as of December 17: 3.23%

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is an American pharmaceutical company, based in New Jersey. It mainly provides innovative health solutions to its consumers. The company currently offers a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share, having raised it by 5.2% on November 19. This marked the company’s 14th consecutive year of dividend growth, which makes MRK one of the best Dogs of the Dow dividend stocks. The stock’s dividend yield on December 17 came in at 3.24%.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)’s leading cancer treatment, Keytruda, has received approval for a wide range of indications. Recently, the company announced that a Phase 3 trial for Keytruda in a specific type of ovarian cancer met its primary goal of improving progression-free survival, though it did not achieve the secondary goal of extending overall survival. Currently, Keytruda is approved in the US for 40 different oncology indications, and Merck is working to gain similar approvals in key international markets, such as the European Union and Japan, where these indications have not yet been authorized.

In the third quarter of 2024, Keytruda’s sales rose by 17% year-over-year, reaching $7.4 billion. This performance was also highlighted in GreensKeeper Asset Management’s Q3 2024 investor letter. Here is what the firm shared:

“Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) was our second-largest detractor this quarter, declining -8.3%. MRK’s leading HPV vaccine, GARDASIL 9, faced challenges internationally due to inventory buildup within its Chinese distributor, which is expected to reduce shipments for the remainder of 2024. Despite this short-term impact, the long-term outlook for GARDASIL 9 remains promising. Meanwhile, the company’s $27 billion Keytruda cancer juggernaut continues to grow at a healthy clip, powering earnings growth.”

Overall, Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) reported revenues of $16.66 billion, representing a 4.3% increase compared to the same period last year. The company’s pipeline is advancing and expanding, reflecting its success in building a sustainable innovation framework and positioning itself with a more diversified portfolio to support future growth.

Of the 900 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey at the end of Q3 2024, 86 funds held stakes in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK), down from 96 in the previous quarter. The collective value of these stakes is over $7.1 billion. With over 14.6 million shares, Fisher Asset Management was the company’s leading stakeholder in Q3.