Capital Wealth Planning LLC Boosts Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 30.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,969,433 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 701,481 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for about 3.9% of Capital Wealth Planning LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Capital Wealth Planning LLC owned about 0.12% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $367,616,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3,714.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,023,853 shares of the company’s stock worth $794,847,000 after buying an additional 5,865,948 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,233,000 after acquiring an additional 5,627,923 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth approximately $724,776,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 3,153,333 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 352.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 3,144,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $342,814,000 after acquiring an additional 2,449,211 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $115.86 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock 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. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $118.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $124.57. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($2.06) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 342.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on MRK. UBS Group reduced their price objective on 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. Wolfe Research raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $134.58.

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.