Gilbert & Cook Inc. Has $1.21 Million Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Gilbert & Cook Inc. lessened its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,772 shares of the company’s stock after selling 751 shares during the quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,210,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MRK. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Tidemark LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Clear Investment Research LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Roble Belko & Company Inc raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.3% during the first quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on MRK. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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 report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of MRK traded up $0.99 on Monday, reaching $118.45. 8,876,400 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,613,578. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $121.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $125.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $300.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 131.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.38. 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 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 40.69%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($2.06) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.