Appleton Partners Inc. MA Purchases 7,248 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 112,112 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,248 shares during the quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $12,731,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 157,905 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,181,000 after buying an additional 4,069 shares during the last quarter. Per Stirling Capital Management LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Per Stirling Capital Management LLC. now owns 3,691 shares of the company’s stock worth $402,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 91,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,992,000 after acquiring an additional 4,909 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,038,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the period. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 532,985 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,106,000 after purchasing an additional 30,527 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted 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, Barclays lowered 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. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $112.03 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The company has a market capitalization of $283.75 billion, a PE ratio of 124.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a fifty day moving average of $115.99 and a 200-day moving average of $123.84.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($2.06) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.