Raymond James & Associates Grows Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,874,714 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 114,080 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for about 0.7% of Raymond James & Associates’ holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,121,372,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 317,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,077,000 after buying an additional 1,884 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 80.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 33,675 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,169,000 after acquiring an additional 15,026 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 141.7% in the third quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC now owns 13,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,538,000 after acquiring an additional 7,939 shares during the period. IFG Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.4% in the third quarter. IFG Advisors LLC now owns 6,708 shares of the company’s stock worth $762,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% in the third quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 19,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,246,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. 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 on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE MRK traded down $1.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $108.70. 9,523,037 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,769,570. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $122.45. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The company has a market cap of $275.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 120.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($2.06) EPS. On average, analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.