Chesapeake Wealth Management Has $2 Million Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Chesapeake Wealth Management reduced its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,117 shares of the company’s stock after selling 555 shares during the period. Chesapeake Wealth Management’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,995,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,775,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $219,784,000 after purchasing an additional 61,677 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,584,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,127,000 after purchasing an additional 28,185 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.0% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 199,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,739,000 after purchasing an additional 7,641 shares in the last quarter. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.0% during the second quarter. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 17,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,127,000 after buying an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.9% during the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 407,338 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,428,000 after buying an additional 19,072 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on MRK shares. UBS Group reduced their price target on 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. Bank of America reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a 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 given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $117.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $134.63. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $117.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.30. The stock has a market cap of $296.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 130.18, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($2.06) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued 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 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.