Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Bought by Thrive Wealth Management LLC

Thrive Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 20,826 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 909 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for 0.6% of Thrive Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Thrive Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,403,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,537,899 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,007,000 after buying an additional 47,005 shares during the period. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 32.5% in the first quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC now owns 80,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,550,000 after acquiring an additional 19,697 shares during the last quarter. MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.8% during the first quarter. MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC now owns 60,583 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,445,000 after acquiring an additional 6,382 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 29,838,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,174,510,000 after acquiring an additional 3,524,385 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 15.8% in the 1st quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 178,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,973,000 after purchasing an additional 24,402 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MRK. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $102.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. HSBC assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Friday, July 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $123.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, September 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $124.74.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 4,500 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.49, for a total value of $474,705.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,867,745.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK opened at $107.82 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $273.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.38, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.33. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $107.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $110.39.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 6th. Investors of record on Friday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.73 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 239.34%.

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.