Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by Bokf Na

Bokf Na trimmed its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 299,505 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,843 shares during the quarter. Bokf Na’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $37,079,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 28.5% during the second quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 43,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,409,000 after purchasing an additional 9,678 shares during the last quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 177,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,921,000 after buying an additional 12,249 shares during the period. Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 63.8% in the 2nd quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 1,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $225,000 after buying an additional 709 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at about $375,000. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 61.4% during the second quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 25,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,141,000 after acquiring an additional 9,648 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MRK shares. Wolfe Research raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $114.71 on Thursday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $290.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 127.46, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $119.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($2.06) EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

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.