Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) shot up 0.5% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $118.98 and last traded at $118.91. 2,493,794 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 8,620,096 shares. The stock had previously closed at $118.29.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of 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, Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $118.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $124.44. The firm has a market cap of $301.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 132.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($2.06) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 342.22%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merck & Co., Inc.

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 69.6% during the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $508,000 after buying an additional 1,684 shares during the period. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter valued at about $506,000. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,474,000. Lazari Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $340,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $61,256,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.