Benjamin Edwards Inc. Grows Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 28,057 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MRK. Aveo Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $710,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the period. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 85.5% in the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 13,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,436,000 after purchasing an additional 6,421 shares during the period. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 73,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,026,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at about $479,000. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 29,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,196,000 after purchasing an additional 1,252 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Bank of America decreased their price objective on 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. Barclays decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $117.23 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $296.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 130.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $118.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $124.35. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($2.06) EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

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.