Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Has $72.66 Million Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 17.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 586,933 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 87,046 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for about 1.8% of Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $72,662,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cross Staff Investments Inc raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 6,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $732,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth about $212,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% during the first quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 77,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,270,000 after acquiring an additional 4,433 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 12,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,338,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 145,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,870,000 after buying an additional 16,730 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on MRK. 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. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Barclays dropped their price objective 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. Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $116.60. 8,368,151 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,672,231. The firm has a market capitalization of $295.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.38. 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 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $122.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $125.72.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.67% 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($2.06) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date 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.