Stone House Investment Management LLC Buys New Shares in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Stone House Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $103,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 144.6% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,229,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,418,820,000 after acquiring an additional 29,104,112 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at about $991,553,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,240.9% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,286,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $474,543,000 after buying an additional 5,060,959 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 31,377,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,121,395,000 after buying an additional 4,511,742 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 63.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,577,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,151,642,000 after buying an additional 4,480,007 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price target (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $107.44.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $80.09 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.17. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $73.31 and a one year high of $120.30. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $200.05 billion, a PE ratio of 12.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 25.79% and a return on equity of 41.05%. The business had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.92 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.92%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.