Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Bought by Plancorp LLC

Plancorp LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,932 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,226 shares during the period. Plancorp LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,715,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sargent Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.4% in the second quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 14,085 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,744,000 after buying an additional 1,328 shares during the last quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% during the second quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 23,381 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,908,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Wealth Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 31.6% in the 2nd quarter. Capstone Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 5,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $729,000 after acquiring an additional 1,416 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,207,000. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 145,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,983,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MRK. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Monday. Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of 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, Bank of America decreased 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 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 2.5 %

NYSE:MRK opened at $117.96 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $118.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $124.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $298.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 131.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.