Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stock Position Increased by SBI Securities Co. Ltd.

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,901 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 968 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,966,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $3,479,799,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 80,742,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,032,217,000 after purchasing an additional 4,932,647 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 31,377,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,121,395,000 after purchasing an additional 4,511,742 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 63.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,577,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,151,642,000 after purchasing an additional 4,480,007 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9,991.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,332,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $388,880,000 after purchasing an additional 4,289,516 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total transaction of $352,723.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 7,778 shares in the company, valued at $643,707.28. This represents a 35.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MRK. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 target price (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $108.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK opened at $83.72 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $210.21 billion, a PE ratio of 12.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $79.09 and a 200-day moving average of $86.19. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $73.31 and a 52-week high of $129.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.41.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $15.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 43.23% and a net margin of 27.27%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.07 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.87%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.16%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.