Chase Investment Counsel Corp Purchases 560 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Chase Investment Counsel Corp increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,920 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 560 shares during the quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.0% during the second quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 16,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,061,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 54,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,709,000 after purchasing an additional 2,591 shares in the last quarter. Kapstone Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.7% in the second quarter. Kapstone Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,225,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 30.4% during the second quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 5,630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $697,000 after buying an additional 1,312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 5,190,353 shares of the company’s stock valued at $642,566,000 after buying an additional 25,038 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK traded up $3.39 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $119.19. The stock had a trading volume of 3,361,697 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,568,777. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $120.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $125.20. The firm has a market cap of $301.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 128.67, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($2.06) EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 342.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MRK shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $134.58.

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.