Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Purchased by Plan Group Financial LLC

Key Points

• Plan Group Financial LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 160.7%, purchasing an additional 4,472 shares and bringing its total to 7,255 shares, valued at approximately $651,000.
• Several other institutional investors have also made moves in Merck & Co., Inc., with institutional ownership now at 76.07% of the company’s stock.
• Merck & Co., Inc. declared a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share, yielding 4.1%, which will be paid on October 7th to investors who are on record as of September 15th.

Plan Group Financial LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 160.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,255 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 4,472 shares during the quarter. Plan Group Financial LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $651,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Wills Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,945,000. Ruffer LLP raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 24.8% during the first quarter. Ruffer LLP now owns 90,727 shares of the company's stock worth $8,143,000 after purchasing an additional 18,055 shares in the last quarter. Sfmg LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.0% during the first quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 8,502 shares of the company's stock worth $763,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.8% during the first quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 153,756 shares of the company's stock worth $13,801,000 after purchasing an additional 13,692 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silver Coast Investments LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 43.0% during the first quarter. Silver Coast Investments LLC now owns 4,234 shares of the company's stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 1,274 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $107.44.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK traded up $0.85 during trading on Thursday, hitting $80.29. 10,826,251 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,582,423. The company has a market cap of $200.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.37, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $73.31 and a 1 year high of $120.30. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $80.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 25.79% and a return on equity of 41.05%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio is 49.92%.

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.