Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Has $5.07 Million Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 40,976 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,949 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises about 0.6% of Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,073,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Tidemark LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Clear Investment Research LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Roble Belko & Company Inc grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.3% during the first quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on MRK shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of MRK stock opened at $117.17 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $296.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 130.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $117.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $124.31.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($2.06) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 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.