19,721 Shares in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Bought by CoreCap Advisors LLC

CoreCap Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 19,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,442,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Tidemark LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.3% during the 1st quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on MRK shares. Wolfe Research raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE MRK opened at $115.25 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market cap of $291.91 billion, a PE ratio of 128.06, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $118.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $124.71.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share 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 40.69%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($2.06) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.