Franklin Resources Inc. Grows Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,049,161 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,836,505 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,759,800,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 324,981 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,905,000 after purchasing an additional 26,449 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 23.5% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 289,298 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,853,000 after buying an additional 55,048 shares during the period. Blankinship & Foster LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter worth approximately $9,566,000. PVG Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $384,000. Finally, Destination Wealth Management raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 209,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,780,000 after acquiring an additional 4,146 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MRK shares. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $121.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. HSBC upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.20.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $101.27 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $103.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $115.15. The firm has a market cap of $256.18 billion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $94.48 and a 12-month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.57%.

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.