Buckingham Capital Management Inc. Grows Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Buckingham Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,021 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,387,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 68,563,817 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,294,504,000 after buying an additional 6,546,946 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,218,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,438,036,000 after buying an additional 2,879,481 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 41,850,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,643,267,000 after buying an additional 4,000,816 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 103,159.7% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 39,327,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,363,385,000 after buying an additional 39,289,404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 30.2% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 35,734,925 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,801,839,000 after buying an additional 8,281,942 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on MRK. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $102.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $116.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. HSBC began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Friday, July 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $123.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, September 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $124.74.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE MRK opened at $107.82 on Tuesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $84.52 and a one year high of $119.65. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $107.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $110.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $273.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.38, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 1st. The company reported ($2.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.18) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 5.34% and a return on equity of 16.29%. The company had revenue of $15.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.87 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 3.03 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.73 per share. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 239.34%.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 4,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.01, for a total transaction of $463,292.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,500,144.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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, as well as vaccine products, such as preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines.