Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Has $44.54 Million Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 359,791 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,661 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up 0.8% of Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $44,542,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Trust Investment Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth approximately $390,000. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 21.5% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 131,584 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,290,000 after acquiring an additional 23,322 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% in the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 31,742 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,930,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 294,806 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,497,000 after acquiring an additional 18,040 shares during the period. Finally, Cowa LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 25.7% in the second quarter. Cowa LLC now owns 1,957 shares of the company’s stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on MRK. Evercore ISI raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on 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. UBS Group lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $117.23 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $296.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 130.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $118.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $124.35. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($2.06) EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.63%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 342.22%.

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.