News

Looking at the universe of stocks we cover at Dividend Channel, on 3/14/24, Atrion Corp. (Symbol: ATRI), Merck & Co Inc (Symbol: MRK), and CONMED Corp (Symbol: CNMD) will all trade ex-dividend for their respective upcoming dividends. Atrion Corp. will pay its quarterly dividend of $2.20 on 3/29/24, Merck & Co Inc will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.77 on 4/5/24, and CONMED Corp will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.20 on 4/5/24. As a percentage of ATRI's recent stock price of $435.60, this dividend works out to approximately 0.51%, so look for shares of Atrion Corp. to trade 0.51% lower — all else being equal — when ATRI shares open for trading on 3/14/24. Similarly, investors should look for MRK to open 0.63% lower in price and for CNMD to open 0.24% lower, all else being equal.

Below are dividend history charts for ATRI, MRK, and CNMD, showing historical dividends prior to the most recent ones declared.

Atrion Corp. (Symbol: ATRI):

Merck & Co Inc (Symbol: MRK):

CONMED Corp (Symbol: CNMD):

In general, dividends are not always predictable, following the ups and downs of company profits over time. Therefore, a good first due diligence step in forming an expectation of annual yield going forward, is looking at the history above, for a sense of stability over time. This can help in judging whether the most recent dividends from these companies are likely to continue. If they do continue, the current estimated yields on annualized basis would be 2.02% for Atrion Corp., 2.51% for Merck & Co Inc, and 0.94% for CONMED Corp.

In Tuesday trading, Atrion Corp. shares are currently off about 1.2%, Merck & Co Inc shares are down about 0.6%, and CONMED Corp shares are off about 0.1% on the day.

Click here to learn which 25 S.A.F.E. dividend stocks should be on your radar screen »

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.