Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stake Raised by Sarasin & Partners LLP

Sarasin & Partners LLP boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 112.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,884,285 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 995,784 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises 1.7% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $169,133,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total value of $352,723.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,778 shares in the company, valued at $643,707.28. This represents a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on MRK. Bank of America lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $118.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. TD Securities downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Guggenheim restated 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 Merck & Co., Inc. from $113.00 to $106.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.6%

NYSE:MRK opened at $76.86 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $80.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $90.53. The company has a market cap of $193.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.43. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $73.31 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 26.67% and a return on equity of 45.35%. The company had revenue of $15.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.07 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.22%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.16%.

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.