Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 11,601 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the quarter. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MRK. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake 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 valued at $9,331,676,000 after buying an additional 3,153,333 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,108,366,000. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,972,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,632,255,000 after acquiring an additional 1,696,151 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,841,233,000 after acquiring an additional 5,627,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,551,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,477,357,000 after acquiring an additional 212,852 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $1.37 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $119.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 833,965 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,577,084. The stock has a market cap of $303.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 131.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $120.04 and a 200-day moving average of $125.16.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for 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 was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($2.06) EPS. Research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.57%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

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.