29,528 Shares in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Purchased by Williams Financial LLC

Williams Financial LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 29,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,803,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 85,595,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,331,676,000 after purchasing an additional 3,153,333 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at $3,108,366,000. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake 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 buying an additional 1,696,151 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,233,000 after buying an additional 5,627,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,551,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,477,357,000 after acquiring an additional 212,852 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on MRK. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Evercore ISI raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK opened at $115.86 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $118.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $124.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $293.45 billion, a PE ratio of 128.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.39. 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. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($2.06) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.