Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Acquired by Legacy Bridge LLC

Legacy Bridge LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 15.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,781 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the quarter. Legacy Bridge LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.6% in the first 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 grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% in the first 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 grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.6% in the fourth 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 grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 103,159.7% in the fourth 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 grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 30.2% in the first 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.59% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 4,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,500,144.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.3 %

MRK stock opened at $107.82 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $273.60 billion, a PE ratio of 88.38, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.52 and a 1 year high of $119.65. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $107.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $110.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The company reported ($2.06) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.18) by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $15.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.44 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 5.34% and a return on equity of 16.29%. The business’s revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.87 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 6th. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 239.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on MRK. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “a-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Friday, September 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, September 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 31st. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $116.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $102.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. Five equities research 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $124.74.

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