Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. Has $642,000 Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,186 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Aveo Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $710,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 85.5% in the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 13,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,436,000 after acquiring an additional 6,421 shares in the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 56,131 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,119,000 after acquiring an additional 3,119 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 116,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,666,000 after acquiring an additional 4,931 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Partnership Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $257,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of MRK stock traded down $1.65 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $113.76. 3,038,375 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,625,978. The firm has a market cap of $288.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 128.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $119.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $124.95.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 342.22%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.