Merck dividend
MyStockButler's November 2026 analysis: Merck's base dividend stays at €2.20 per share, flat across the three-year record. Merck generated €12.75 billion of free cash flow from 2021 through 2025, paid listed shareholders €1.27 billion in dividends and made no share buybacks.
How much does Merck pay per share?
The base dividend stays at €2.20 per share in every window. The bear cuts it to €2.00 and holds it there. The bull raises it to €2.30 first. It then reaches €2.50 and €2.70. The base follows the three-year record of a flat €2.20 dividend. Free cash flow was €2,194 million in 2025, while 2026 guidance spans €1,800 million to €2,300 million, supporting stability but not aggressive increases.
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 21,102 | 21,156 | 20,993 | 22,232 | 19,687 |
| Net income | 2,608 | 2,777 | 2,824 | 3,326 | 3,055 |
| EPS, diluted | 6.00 | 6.39 | 6.49 | 7.65 | 7.03 |
| Dividend per share | 2.20 | 2.20 | 2.20 | 2.20 | 1.85 |
What this means. Merck's sales fell 0.3% as reported, but sales from the businesses it kept grew 3.1% because buying and selling businesses changed the comparison.
Does Merck's dividend fit its free cash flow?
From 2021 through 2025, free cash flow totalled €12.75 billion. Free cash flow is what remains after specified operating and investment spending. Merck paid listed shareholders €1.27 billion in dividends and made no share buybacks. In 2025, the listed dividend was €284 million, while E. Merck KG withdrew €755 million. The public dividend therefore understates the cash returned to owners.
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free cash flow | 2,194 | 2,745 | 1,828 | 2,578 | 3,409 |
| − Dividends paid | 284 | 284 | 284 | 239 | 181 |
| − Share buybacks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| = Free cash flow not paid out | 1,900 | 2,452 | 1,532 | 2,328 | 3,220 |
What could change Merck's dividend?
Mavenclad produced €1.2 billion of sales in 2025. Two U.S. dosing-regimen patents were found invalid, and generic competition helped drive a 10.2% organic sales decline in the second quarter of 2026. Merck assumed no U.S. Mavenclad sales from August 2026 in its guidance, which is a planning assumption rather than proof that every sale stopped on that date.
What is Merck's dividend yield at today's price?
The price of Merck KGaA, the German company based in Darmstadt and distinct from the U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co. asks investors to believe in recovery across Life Science, Healthcare and Electronics. At €151.30 a share, the investment depends on what those businesses can earn after today’s accounting charges and spending.
| Today (Nov 1, 2026) | |
|---|---|
| Share price | 151.30 |
| Free cash flow yield (calculated) | 3.3% |
| Dividend yield (calculated) | 1.5% |
What this means. The next-year price-to-earnings number uses analysts’ expected profit, so it can be wrong.