Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Has $3.37 Million Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,568 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,602 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,374,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Berenberg Bank boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $129.79 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The firm has a market cap of $328.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 144.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $129.27 and a 200-day moving average of $123.96.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.