Waverton Investment Management Ltd Acquires 4,371 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Waverton Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 79.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,891 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,371 shares during the period. Waverton Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,225,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Aveo Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,515 shares of the company’s stock worth $710,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the period. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 85.5% during the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 13,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,436,000 after acquiring an additional 6,421 shares during the period. Advantage Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $76,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,334,000. Finally, Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,718 shares of the company’s stock worth $623,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. Wolfe Research upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America reduced their target price 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. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 2.4 %

NYSE MRK opened at $118.59 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $120.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $125.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $300.37 billion, a PE ratio of 131.77, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($2.06) EPS. Equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.