William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. Takes $3.33 Million Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 26,901 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,330,000. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises approximately 2.2% of William B. Walkup & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3,714.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,023,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $794,847,000 after purchasing an additional 5,865,948 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,841,233,000 after purchasing an additional 5,627,923 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at approximately $724,776,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 85,595,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,331,676,000 after purchasing an additional 3,153,333 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,782,000 after purchasing an additional 2,473,346 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.5 %

MRK stock opened at $113.69 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $116.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $124.02. The company has a market capitalization of $287.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 126.32, 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. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $134.63.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 342.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on MRK. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given 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.

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.