Hudson Canyon Capital Management Lowers Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Hudson Canyon Capital Management trimmed its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 11.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 13,652 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,848 shares during the period. Hudson Canyon Capital Management’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,690,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Waterfront Wealth Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 10,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,246,000 after buying an additional 805 shares in the last quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,897,000 after acquiring an additional 515 shares in the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 757,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,746,000 after acquiring an additional 15,896 shares during the period. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.1% in the second quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp now owns 4,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $515,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the period. Finally, Drive Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.0% during the second quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,167,000 after purchasing an additional 1,148 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK traded up $0.99 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $118.45. 8,876,478 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,545,494. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $300.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 131.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.38. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $121.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $125.41.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($2.06) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MRK. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on 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. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.58.

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.