Grassi Investment Management Takes $12.27 Million Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Grassi Investment Management purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 106,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,273,000. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up about 1.4% of Grassi Investment Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 94.2% in the 1st quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P now owns 349,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,683,000 after acquiring an additional 169,536 shares in the last quarter. BCK Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth approximately $2,423,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.3% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 159,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,064,000 after buying an additional 9,376 shares during the period. First Western Trust Bank bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,078,000. Finally, Equitable Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. now owns 36,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,964,000 after buying an additional 4,131 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.59% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 4,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.01, for a total value of $463,292.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,500,144.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.3 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $107.82 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $107.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $110.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $84.52 and a 1-year high of $119.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $273.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The company reported ($2.06) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.18) by $0.12. The company had revenue of $15.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.44 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 16.29% and a net margin of 5.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.87 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be given a $0.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 239.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 31st. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $116.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $109.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. TheStreet cut Merck & Co., Inc. from an “a-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Friday, September 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $102.00 to $113.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $124.74.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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, as well as vaccine products, such as preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines.