GAMMA Investing LLC Acquires 10,299 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 35.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 39,411 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,299 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for 0.7% of GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,879,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $732,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Camelot Portfolios LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth $205,000. Leavell Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 45,735 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,019,000 after buying an additional 2,749 shares during the last quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth $220,000. Finally, Crown Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $472,000 after buying an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MRK. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays reduced 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 report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Berenberg Bank raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK traded up $1.38 during trading on Friday, hitting $115.20. The company had a trading volume of 16,562,288 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,345,653. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $126.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $126.56. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $291.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 128.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 41.67%. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($2.06) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.