SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC Has $3.19 Million Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,747 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,479 shares during the period. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,187,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 85,595,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,331,676,000 after acquiring an additional 3,153,333 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,966,029,000 after buying an additional 4,731,152 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,108,366,000. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,972,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,632,255,000 after acquiring an additional 1,696,151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,841,233,000 after purchasing an additional 5,627,923 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MRK. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wolfe Research raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK traded up $0.99 during trading on Friday, hitting $118.45. 8,876,478 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,545,494. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The company has a market cap of $300.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 131.61, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.38. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $121.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $125.41.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($2.06) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

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.