Mather Group LLC. Has $4.72 Million Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 39.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 35,747 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 10,179 shares during the quarter. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,717,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Berenberg Bank upped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK traded down $1.23 on Tuesday, reaching $111.08. The stock had a trading volume of 9,721,355 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,712,666. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company has a market capitalization of $281.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $126.41 and a 200-day moving average of $126.52.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.67% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($2.06) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co, Inc operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, and diabetes under the Keytruda, Bridion, Adempas, Lagevrio, Belsomra, Simponi, and Januvia brands, as well as vaccine products consisting of preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines under the Gardasil/Gardasil 9, ProQuad, M-M-R II, Varivax, RotaTeq, Live Oral, Vaxneuvance, Pneumovax 23, and Vaqta names.