Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Purchased by Noble Family Wealth LLC

Noble Family Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 22.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,291 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the quarter. Noble Family Wealth LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Norges Bank bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $3,108,366,000. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3,714.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,023,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $794,847,000 after purchasing an additional 5,865,948 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,233,000 after acquiring an additional 5,627,923 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at about $724,776,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,966,029,000 after purchasing an additional 4,731,152 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MRK shares. UBS Group reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America dropped 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 report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of 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 given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.8 %

MRK traded up $0.91 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $114.39. 9,038,603 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,686,944. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $125.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $126.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $289.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 127.62, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.38. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($2.06) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.04 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 given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.