Patron Partners LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Patron Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,716 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises about 0.8% of Patron Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Patron Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,327,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,108,366,000. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake 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 worth $1,632,255,000 after buying an additional 1,696,151 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in 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 lifted its stake in 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.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock opened at $117.87 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $298.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 130.97, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.38. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $119.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $125.09. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($2.06) EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group decreased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.58.

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.