Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. Has $386,000 Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 8.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,115 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $386,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1,185.5% during the 4th quarter. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. now owns 333,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,385,000 after purchasing an additional 307,780 shares during the last quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 18,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,043,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 4,119 shares of the company’s stock valued at $449,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Rogco LP lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 84.5% in the fourth quarter. Rogco LP now owns 8,142 shares of the company’s stock worth $888,000 after buying an additional 3,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 37,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,071,000 after acquiring an additional 2,959 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. 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 report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target 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. 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 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. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $118.45 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $121.20 and its 200-day moving average is $125.41. 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($2.06) earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 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.