HP, Merck, and Seagate Just Paid Their Shareholders. Here’s What Landed in Their Accounts.
On October 7, three companies with nothing in common sent cash to their shareholders, but the differences in what each paid, how fast each raised it, and what the stock price does to the math tell three very different income…
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Three companies with nothing in common operationally happened to pay their quarterly dividends on the same day, October 7: Merck (NYSE:MRK | MRK Price Prediction), Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX), and HP (NYSE:HPQ). One sells prescription drugs, one builds storage drives for data centers, and one makes laptops and printers. The payment date is the only thing linking them, and that makes the date a useful lens for examining how three very different businesses reward the people who own them.
Merck Paid the Biggest Check per Share
Merck is a pharmaceutical company that develops and sells prescription medicines and vaccines, led by its cancer drug Keytruda, and it also runs an animal health business.
- Paid on October 7: $0.85 per share
- On 100 shares: $85
- Same quarter a year earlier: $0.81 per share, an increase of 4.9%
- Annualized at the current rate: $3.40 per share
- Share price (premarket, October 8): $142.08
- Dividend yield at that price: 2.4%
The business behind the payment is growing. Second-quarter revenue reached $16.61 billion, up 5.1% from a year earlier, and management raised its full-year 2026 sales guidance to a range of $66.3 billion to $67.3 billion. The Keytruda franchise alone brought in $8.37 billion in the quarter, which explains why investors paid close attention when Barron’s reported that Keytruda had been dealt a legal setback on October 7. The shares have climbed 34.1% year to date, which has pulled the yield lower.
Seagate Raised Its Payout as Shares Climbed
Seagate makes hard disk drives and other data storage hardware, and much of it goes to cloud companies that need huge amounts of capacity to store the data behind AI services.
- Paid on October 7: $0.74 per share
- On 100 shares: $74
- Same quarter a year earlier: $0.72 per share, an increase of 2.8%
- Annualized at the current rate: $2.96 per share
- Share price (premarket, October 8): $794.55
- Dividend yield at that price: 0.4%
The company has plenty of cash behind the payout. Free cash flow hit a record $3.1 billion in fiscal 2026, the company retired $1.40 billion in debt, and it returned $810 million to shareholders through dividends and buybacks. The low yield is a function of the elevated share price. The stock is up 180.9% year to date on demand for AI-driven storage. It has also been volatile: shares fell 11.2% over the past week after MarketWatch reported steep drops for Western Digital and Seagate on October 2.
HP Pays the Smallest Check and the Highest Yield
HP makes personal computers, printers, and printer supplies. It is a separate company from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE), which sells servers and networking equipment to businesses.
- Paid on October 7: $0.30 per share
- On 100 shares: $30
- Same quarter a year earlier: $0.29 per share, an increase of 3.5%
- Annualized at the current rate: $1.20 per share
- Share price (premarket, October 8): $32.09
- Dividend yield at that price: 3.7%
HP generated $1.57 billion in free cash flow in its fiscal third quarter, while dividends cost it $274 million. Management raised full-year free cash flow guidance to $3.0 billion to $3.2 billion, helped by AI PC demand that lifted Personal Systems revenue 18%. Income investors face several risks: HP carries a stockholders’ deficit of $92 million, its PC operating margin narrowed to 4.6%, and the company is navigating a CEO transition.
Why Some Shareholders Got Nothing on October 7
Plenty of people who own these stocks right now received nothing on October 7. The reason is the ex-dividend date, which is where income investors get confused most often.
Every dividend goes through four steps:
- Declaration date: The board announces the amount and the schedule. Seagate, for example, declared this payment on July 29, 2026.
- Record date: The company checks its books to see who officially owns the shares. Those owners get paid.
- Ex-dividend date: The deadline for buying in time. Because stock trades take time to settle, you must own the shares before the ex-dividend date to appear on the record books. If you buy on or after the ex-dividend date, the seller keeps the dividend.
- Payment date: The cash actually lands in your account.
All three companies had their ex-dividend dates in September:
| Company | Ex-Dividend Date | Payment Date |
|---|---|---|
| HP | September 9 | October 7 |
| Merck | September 15 | October 7 |
| Seagate | September 24 | October 7 |
If you bought any of these three in late September or early October, you missed the cutoff, and your first payment will come next quarter. The weeks between the ex-dividend date and the payment date are a waiting period, and only investors who were already on the books by the cutoff get paid at the end of it.
Largest Check, Biggest Raise, and Highest Yield Go to Different Stocks
All three paid more than in the same quarter last year. Merck gave the largest raise at 4.9%, HP came next at 3.5%, and Seagate raised the least at 2.8%. The size of a raise shows how confident management is and how much cash it has to spare. Whether the stock is fairly valued is a separate question that requires its own analysis.
The per-share amount must be considered alongside the share price to be meaningful. Merck paid the most per share, and HP pays the most relative to what the stock costs, with a 3.7% yield. Yield is the annual dividend divided by the share price. In plain terms, it is the income you collect each year for every dollar invested in the stock. A 3.7% yield means about $3.70 a year for every $100 invested. Seagate’s 0.4% yield shows that for its shareholders, the dividend is a small part of the return and the share price drives most of it.
What Income Investors Should Take From October 7
October 7 brought three routine quarterly payments from three businesses that are each growing their payouts. What to watch next: each board’s upcoming dividend declaration for the following quarter and the next earnings reports, including:
- HP’s CEO transition and PC margins
- Merck’s response to the Keytruda legal setback
- Whether AI storage demand keeps supporting Seagate’s shares
Before buying for the next payment, check the ex-dividend date.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.
Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community.
Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.
Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions.
