Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Acquired by E Fund Management Co. Ltd.

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 10.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,090 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,641 shares during the quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,116,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Tidemark LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.3% in the first quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on MRK. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America cut their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $118.30 on Wednesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a 50-day moving average of $118.47 and a 200-day moving average of $124.44. The firm has a market cap of $299.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 131.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 period last year, the company posted ($2.06) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast 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 declared 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 dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

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.