BlackRock Has "The 7% Solution": And It IS. . . Merck! Shoves Its Stake WAY North, In 2013!

Okay -- Merck should crow about this: BlackRock (a group of investors many regard as preeminent -- in the world) has crossed a very important psychological barrier, here at the end of 2013.

BlackRock now holds just over seven per cent of all of Merck's outstanding shares. That puts BlackRock back into the investing view -- it last really held, in the go-go days of the early 2000s -- as to its Merck holdings, as a percentage of outstandings.

And at over 203 million Merck shares, that my friends, is a very big bet. Those smart pharma wranglers at the BlackRock affiliated entities have been steadily adding to this bet -- from 2010 to present -- from just over 5 per cent, to today's high water mark.

Perhaps it will more greatly impress if the readership understands that this year, while BlackRock also slightly upped its stake in Pfizer, to 6.5 per cent of PFE's outstandings, at year end 2013 -- it chose Merck as its heaviest bet in pharma space. (And that's a snub, to the largest public pharma company on the planet. Whoosh!) That's some stuff, then -- at Whitehouse Station! These are the BlackRock entities, covered by the SEC Schedule 13G -- just filed tonight.

. . . .BlackRock (Channel Islands) Ltd
BlackRock (Luxembourg) S.A.
BlackRock (Netherlands) B.V.
BlackRock Advisors (UK) Limited
BlackRock Advisors, LLC
BlackRock Asset Management Canada Limited
BlackRock Asset Management Deutschland AG
BlackRock Asset Management Ireland Limited
BlackRock Asset Management North Asia Limited
BlackRock Capital Management
BlackRock Financial Management, Inc.
BlackRock Fund Advisors
BlackRock Fund Management Company S.A.
BlackRock Fund Management Ireland Limited
BlackRock Fund Managers Ltd
BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A.
BlackRock International Limited
BlackRock Investment Management (Australia) Limited
BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Ltd
BlackRock Investment Management, LLC
BlackRock Japan Co Ltd
BlackRock Life Limited
iShares (DE) I InvAG mit Teilgesellschaftsvermoegen. . . .

So there you have it -- Kudos, Merckies! Take a Sochi-style victory lap -- right out there, on the speed skating oval, now -- flying your teal logo flag, behind you. Nicely-done! Very nicely-done! These folks didn't choose you -- and throw billions behind your efforts -- just on your good looks! Hah!