Beech Hill Advisors Inc. Has $5.03 Million Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,152 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 535 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up approximately 2.1% of Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,034,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% in the first quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 77,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,270,000 after buying an additional 4,433 shares during the period. Mechanics Bank Trust Department boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 18.2% in the 1st quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department now owns 31,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,221,000 after purchasing an additional 4,924 shares during the period. Annex Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.6% during the 1st quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 243,786 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,168,000 after purchasing an additional 25,430 shares in the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 16,581 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,188,000 after purchasing an additional 722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morton Capital Management LLC CA raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Morton Capital Management LLC CA now owns 6,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $892,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Berenberg Bank raised their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Societe Generale cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $132.96 on Wednesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $336.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 147.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $129.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $123.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 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.