Navalign LLC Acquires 348 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Navalign LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,922 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the quarter. Navalign LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,600,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. NTV Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 26,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,893,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% during the first quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. IRON Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the second quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 1,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 5,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $549,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Endowment Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 note on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK traded up $0.99 on Friday, reaching $118.45. The stock had a trading volume of 8,876,478 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,613,569. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $134.63. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $121.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $125.46. The company has a market cap of $300.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 131.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.38.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

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

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.