Quarry LP Buys New Shares in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Quarry LP bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Invst LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.4% in the second quarter. Invst LLC now owns 3,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the period. Second Line Capital LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.0% during the second quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 4,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $577,000 after purchasing an additional 772 shares during the period. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth about $3,330,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% during the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 53,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,644,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Finally, Granite FO LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth about $292,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $109.77 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. The firm has a market cap of $278.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 121.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $115.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $123.67. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. 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%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($2.06) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 342.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on MRK shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Bank of America cut their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. 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 note 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 equities 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $134.58.

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.