Merck Boosts its Dividend, With Five Drugs in Pipe Line

Merck & Co (NYSE:MRK) made an 11 percent rise in its quarterly dividend for the first time in seven years since Vioxx, Merck’s painkiller, was withdrawn in 2004.

The second largest drug maker in the United States said that it is planning to file five new drugs for approval within the coming two years, following the announcement of raising dividends. The company raised its quarterly dividend by 4 cents to 42 cents per each share.

Merck’s shares on Thursday jumped 2.7 percent as the company summarized its plans and prospects at a meeting for investors held at its Whitehouse Station headquarters in New Jersey. Merck is positive that the moves that are being executed will ensure growth in sales which will drive enhanced returns and also increase cash flow, according to Chief Executive Officer of Merck, Kenneth Frazier.

Frazier in January was appointed as the CEO of the company, perceived by many as a winning promotion for fishing out Merck from the Vioxx drug disaster on better than expected circumstances. A sum of $12 billion was expected by analysts as the amount to settle the Vioxx lawsuits.

However Frazier, who at that time was the general counsel, insisted on trying each case individually. After Merck was stood prosperous in several cases before the law, claimants then in 2007 were forced to settle the lawsuits for a sum of $4.85 billion.

Merck is also committed in returning money to its shareholders, said Frazier. Since January this year the company has returned over $9 billion in the form of dividends and has bought back nearly $3million of its shares. Merck’s shares rose by 3.2 percent at $34.87, in May shares were $37.65 off a year high. This adds a 9 percent to the earnings ratio based on 2012 estimated earnings.

Merck said it expects to file for united States approval of five new drugs in the next two years, including Tredaptive, a rug to boost HDL cholesterol and Bridion, Merck’s long delayed treatment to reverse anesthesia. The company is also expecting to file for approval of its osteoporosis drug odanacatib, Merck’s insomnia drug suvorexant, and its cancer vaccine, V503 cervical. The drug maker is also planning to file approval to market three existing medicines for new indications.

Meanwhile, the second largest drug maker is counting on drugs like Januvia and Victrelis, used for treating diabetes and hepatitis C patients respectively, to mitigate the blow when its biggest drug Singulair, a $5 billion a year asthma drug faces completion in 2012 from U.S. generics.

Post Written By: Ed Liston Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.