5 Best Long-Term Dividend Stocks to Buy Now

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

Dividend Yield as of October 19: 2.92%

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is an American multinational pharmaceutical company that specializes in innovative health solutions for its patients globally. Since the beginning of the year, the stock delivered a 21.3% return to shareholders while its 12-month return stood at 17.3%, as of October 18.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) qualifies as one of the best dividend stocks because it has been raising its dividends consistently for the past 11 years. It pays a quarterly dividend of $0.69 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.92%, as of October 19.

In October, Barclays raised its price target on Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) to $105 with an Overweight rating on the shares, expecting the company to generate positive results in Q3.

At the end of the June quarter, 79 hedge funds in Insider Monkey’s database owned stakes in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK), valued at over $6.1 billion. Fisher Asset Management was the company’s leading stakeholder in Q2.

Chartwell Investment Partners mentioned Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in its Q2 2022 investor letter. Here is what the firm has to say:

“In the Dividend Equity accounts, the three best performers in Q2 includes Merck (NYSE:MRK, 3.6%), up 12.0%. Merck, like other pharma companies, is in a defensive business, but the stock also did well as peak-sales estimates for their flagship drug, Keytruda, have gone up (JPMorgan estimates $32 billion in sales by 2026).”