GM Advisory Group LLC Has $5.25 Million Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

GM Advisory Group LLC cut its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 42,374 shares of the company’s stock after selling 360 shares during the period. GM Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,246,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MRK. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3,714.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,023,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $794,847,000 after purchasing an additional 5,865,948 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,841,233,000 after buying an additional 5,627,923 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter worth about $724,776,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake 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. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,782,000 after acquiring an additional 2,473,346 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK opened at $117.23 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $118.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $124.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $296.92 billion, a PE ratio of 130.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($2.06) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. 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.