14 Best Pharma Dividend Stocks to Buy in 2026

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

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 92

Dividend Yield as of December 29: 3.19%

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is one of the best dividend stocks to invest in.

On December 17, the US Food and Drug Administration moved to fast-track reviews of two experimental Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) drugs with multibillion-dollar potential, according to internal documents seen by Reuters.

Merck’s cholesterol pill enlicitide decanoate and its cancer therapy sacituzumab tirumotecan, also known as sac-TMT, were selected for the Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher program. If approved, they would become the 17th and 18th medicines included in the new initiative, the documents show.

The FDA expects Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) to submit its application for enlicitide in April, followed by sac-TMT in October or November next year. Launched in June, the voucher program is designed to accelerate FDA decisions for drugs with major public health or national security importance. Reviews under the program can take one to two months, compared with the usual 10 to 12 months.

Merck shared positive data on enlicitide in September. In a late-stage, 24-week trial, the drug significantly reduced LDL cholesterol levels versus a placebo in patients with hypercholesterolemia. These patients, marked by severely elevated LDL levels, face a higher risk of heart attack and stroke. The push comes as Merck works to strengthen its pipeline and bring new therapies to market. That effort has taken on more urgency as its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda, the world’s top-selling medicine with nearly $30 billion in annual sales, is expected to face competition from lower-cost biosimilars later this decade.