5 Dividend Stocks to Buy According to Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies

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

Renaissance Technologies Stake Value: $616,668,000

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) delivers innovative health solutions to its consumers through its medicines, vaccines, and medical devices. In Q2, Renaissance Technologies increased its position in the company by 33%, which raised its total stake in the company to $617 million. The company accounted for 0.73% of Jim Simons’ portfolio.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) has been raising its dividends consistently for the past 11 years. The company pays a quarterly dividend of $0.69 per share, giving the stock a dividend yield of 3.15% as of August 29.

In August, Erste Group upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) to ‘Buy’, mentioning that the company’s profits are well above the sector’s average and are expected to grow further in the future.

At the end of June, 79 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey owned stakes in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK), compared with 84 in the previous quarter. The collective value of those stakes was over $6.1 billion. Fisher Asset Management was the company’s largest stakeholder in Q2, owning a position worth over $1.1 billion.

Smead Capital Management mentioned Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in its Q2 2022 investor letter. Here is what the firm had to say:

“For the quarter, our best-performing stocks included Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK). Despite a steep sell-off in June in the oil and gas stocks, two of our oil stocks made the quarterly list. Merck’s defensive characteristics and good news on earnings/growth didn’t shock us. We argued one year ago that Merck was historically cheap relative to the indexes as compared to the last 20 years.”