Sienna Gestion Purchases 511 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Sienna Gestion grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 55,039 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 511 shares during the period. Sienna Gestion’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $6,811,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Tidemark LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Clear Investment Research LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Roble Belko & Company Inc raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.3% in the first quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating 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 assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $118.68 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $300.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 131.87, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $118.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $124.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $134.63.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. 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.