Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe Ltd Increases Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe Ltd increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 106.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 233,257 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 120,381 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises approximately 1.4% of Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe Ltd’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $28,877,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Clear Investment Research LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Roble Belko & Company Inc grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.3% during the 1st quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE MRK opened at $117.17 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. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $117.85 and its 200 day moving average is $124.32. The stock has a market cap of $296.77 billion, a PE ratio of 130.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.39.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. 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.