Sound Shore Management Inc. CT Has $65.73 Million Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Sound Shore Management Inc. CT cut its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 23.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 530,895 shares of the company’s stock after selling 162,397 shares during the period. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $65,725,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Tidemark LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Clear Investment Research LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Roble Belko & Company Inc grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.3% in the 1st quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America dropped 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. Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Wolfe Research upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.1 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $117.16 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $296.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 130.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $117.85 and a 200-day moving average of $124.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($2.06) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect 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. Investors 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 yield of 2.63%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 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.