Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Position Boosted by Stokes Capital Advisors LLC

Stokes Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 19.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,206 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,360 shares during the quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,854,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 85,595,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,331,676,000 after purchasing an additional 3,153,333 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,966,029,000 after purchasing an additional 4,731,152 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $3,108,366,000. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,972,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,632,255,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,233,000 after buying an additional 5,627,923 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Bank of America reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $113.67. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,102,341 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,717,050. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $123.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $126.09. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $287.90 billion, a PE ratio of 126.30, 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 41.67%. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.06) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend 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.