Prospector Partners LLC Has $20.07 Million Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Prospector Partners LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 162,111 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,064 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up about 2.2% of Prospector Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Prospector Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $20,069,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% during the first quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. IRON Financial LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 1,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Argent Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 10,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,302,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,297,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Finally, Vista Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.0% during the second quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley raised 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 report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $117.17 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $296.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 130.19, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.39. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $117.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.31. 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 data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($2.06) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. 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 payout ratio is 342.22%.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.