Brighton Jones LLC Boosts Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,742 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,930,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 85,595,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,331,676,000 after acquiring an additional 3,153,333 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,972,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,632,255,000 after acquiring an additional 1,696,151 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,233,000 after acquiring an additional 5,627,923 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,551,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,477,357,000 after acquiring an additional 212,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 12,050,924 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,313,741,000 after acquiring an additional 253,981 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $117.23 on Friday. The firm has a market cap 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 current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $118.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.35.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($2.06) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MRK. Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America decreased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on 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 issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.58.

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.