Legend Financial Advisors Inc. Acquires 305 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Legend Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 164.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 490 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $61,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MRK. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter worth approximately $212,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 77,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,270,000 after acquiring an additional 4,433 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 12,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,338,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 145,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,870,000 after acquiring an additional 16,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Patron Partners LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% during the first quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 10,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,396,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded up $0.93 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $117.43. 5,402,551 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,620,483. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The business’s 50 day moving average is $121.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $125.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $297.43 billion, a PE ratio of 130.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.67% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($2.06) EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 342.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. 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 research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $134.58.

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 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.