Alley Investment Management Company LLC Sells 6,530 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Alley Investment Management Company LLC lowered its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 132,603 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,530 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises 2.2% of Alley Investment Management Company LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Alley Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $16,416,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MRK. Caxton Associates LP boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.9% in the second quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 23,141 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,865,000 after purchasing an additional 1,701 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 853.6% during the second quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 125,181 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,497,000 after purchasing an additional 112,054 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.4% during the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 1,831,809 shares of the company’s stock valued at $226,778,000 after purchasing an additional 42,907 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 33.8% in the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 93,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,550,000 after purchasing an additional 23,589 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 23.5% in the 2nd quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 1,061,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $131,418,000 after purchasing an additional 201,721 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. 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 note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $114.96 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $291.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 127.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The business has a 50-day moving average of $117.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $124.20. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 342.22%.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.