Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) shot up 1.2% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $114.86 and last traded at $114.86. 1,927,087 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 8,641,063 shares. The stock had previously closed at $113.48.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on MRK. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Wolfe Research raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.3 %

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $124.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $126.16. The stock has a market cap of $286.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 126.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.67% and a net margin of 21.99%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned ($2.06) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. 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 2.72%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 342.22%.

Institutional Trading of Merck & Co., Inc.

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Stonegate Investment Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the first quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 24,915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,288,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 26,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,893,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% in the first quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. IRON Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 1,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, Hendershot Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Hendershot Investments Inc. now owns 15,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,079,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.