Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Purchases 32,009 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 15.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 236,228 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 32,009 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up about 0.6% of Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI's holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $29,245,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. One Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.9% during the 2nd quarter. One Capital Management LLC now owns 90,430 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,195,000 after purchasing an additional 8,857 shares in the last quarter. American Planning Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 24.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Planning Services Inc. now owns 2,004 shares of the company's stock valued at $248,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC now owns 6,970 shares of the company's stock valued at $863,000 after purchasing an additional 877 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,201,926 shares of the company's stock valued at $767,965,000 after purchasing an additional 431,074 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Black Diamond Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 15.7% during the 2nd quarter. Black Diamond Financial LLC now owns 4,018 shares of the company's stock valued at $497,000 after purchasing an additional 545 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MRK shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK traded up $2.10 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $117.96. The company had a trading volume of 7,844,373 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,659,201. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $118.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $124.57. The stock has a market cap of $298.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 130.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 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 quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS 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 net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($2.06) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s payout ratio is 342.22%.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.