Value Investor Joel Greenblatt’s Top 5 Dividend Picks

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

Gotham Asset Management’s Stake Value: $19.4 million
Dividend Yield as of February 15: 2.70%

An American multinational pharmaceutical company, Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is next on our list of top dividend stocks in value investor Joel Greenblatt’s portfolio. In Q4 2022, Gotham Asset Management owned MRK stakes worth over $19.4 million, which represented 0.54% of its 13F portfolio.

Credit Suisse raised its price target on Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) to $125 with an Outperform rating on the shares, appreciating the company’s ongoing research on its drugs.

On January 24, Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) announced a quarterly dividend of $0.73 per share, which was in line with its previous dividend. The company maintains a 12-year streak of consistent dividend growth and has a dividend yield of 2.70%, as of February 15.

At the end of Q3 2022, 82 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey presented a bullish stance on Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK), up from 79 in the previous quarter. The stakes owned by these hedge funds have a total value of over $4.7 billion.

Baron Funds mentioned Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in its Q4 2022 investor letter. Here is what the firm has to say:

“Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is a large-cap pharmaceutical company with a deep heritage in drug discovery. Share gains were led by the continued growth of key asset Keytruda, the leading immune oncology agent used to treat a variety of cancers. Shares also benefited from increased investor interest as Merck proves its ability to scale its Gardasil vaccine that had previously been constrained by supply issues. We retain long-term conviction, as we expect Keytruda to solidify its position as the best-selling biopharmaceutical drug of all time.”