Blair William & Co. IL Has $123.65 Million Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 35.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 998,771 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 260,742 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $123,648,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Aveo Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,515 shares of the company’s stock worth $710,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the period. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 85.5% in the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 13,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,436,000 after buying an additional 6,421 shares during the period. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 73,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,026,000 after buying an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth about $6,077,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at about $479,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:MRK opened at $118.30 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $118.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $124.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $299.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 131.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its 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 firm 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 company’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($2.06) earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

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%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Barclays decreased their price target 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. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target 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.