Wealthspire Advisors LLC Buys 1,512 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Wealthspire Advisors LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 50,839 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,512 shares during the quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $6,294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth approximately $29,501,000. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 17.5% in the 2nd quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 42,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,216,000 after buying an additional 6,291 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 60,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,525,000 after buying an additional 2,248 shares in the last quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.5% during the second quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 288,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,662,000 after buying an additional 78,584 shares during the period. Finally, 1ST Source Bank raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.7% in the second quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 102,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,682,000 after acquiring an additional 9,044 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $115.86 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $118.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.62. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $293.45 billion, a PE ratio of 128.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.39.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.58.

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.