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

Buckingham Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 13.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,677 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,722 shares during the period. Buckingham Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,937,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in 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 worth $9,331,676,000 after buying an additional 3,153,333 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,966,029,000 after acquiring an additional 4,731,152 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,108,366,000. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,972,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,632,255,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,151 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,566,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,479,071,000 after purchasing an additional 228,578 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on MRK. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $130.72 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $331.09 billion, a PE ratio of 145.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $133.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $128.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $123.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 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.