Gateway Advisory LLC Buys 988 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Gateway Advisory LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,943 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 988 shares during the quarter. Gateway Advisory LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,945,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MRK. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in 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. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,841,233,000 after purchasing an additional 5,627,923 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,551,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,477,357,000 after purchasing an additional 212,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 12,050,924 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,313,741,000 after buying an additional 253,981 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.3 %

MRK stock opened at $115.60 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $292.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 128.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $117.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $124.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.06) earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.66%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on MRK. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays lowered their price target 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. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target 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.