5 Healthcare Dividend Stocks Hedge Funds are Buying

4. Merck & Company, Inc. (NYSE: MRK)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 79
Dividend Yield: 3.4%

Merck & Company, Inc. (NYSE: MRK), a pharmaceutical company, is based in New Jersey and operates in the US and Canada. The company ranks 4th on our list of healthcare dividend stocks hedge funds are buying.

Mizuho analyst Mara Goldstein reiterated a Buy rating on shares of Merck & Company, Inc. (NYSE: MRK) this July, alongside a $100 price target.

In the second quarter of 2021, Merck & Company, Inc. (NYSE: MRK) had an EPS of $1.31, missing estimates by $0.04. The company’s revenue was $11.40 billion, up 4.87% year over year and beating estimates by $208.55 million. Merck & Company, Inc. (NYSE: MRK) has gained 8.19% in the past 6 months and 0.95% year to date.

By the end of the first quarter of 2021, 79 hedge funds out of the 866 tracked by Insider Monkey held stakes in Merck & Company, Inc. (NYSE: MRK) worth roughly $6.5 billion. This is compared to 82 hedge funds in the previous quarter with a total stake value of approximately $7.12 billion.