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Biotech / Medical : Pharma News Only (pfe,mrk,wla, sgp, ahp, bmy, lly) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (1435)	2/16/1999 7:51:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1722

Merck shares helped by planned 2-for-1 stock split Tuesday February 16, 6:52 pm Eastern Time NEW YORK, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Shares of New Jersey drugmaker Merck & Co (NYSE:MRK - news) jumped Tuesday amid enthusiasm for a 2-for-1 share split scheduled to take effect at the end of the business day, analysts said. Merck, a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, ended up 3-9/16 to 154-1/4. ''It looks like investors have been buying Merck ahead of the stock split. Some people get excited about stock splits -- about starting out on Tuesday with a certain number of shares and having twice as many shares on Wednesday morning,'' said Mike Krensavage, a Brown Brothers Harriman drug analyst. The price of Merck shares has risen 45 percent since the end of 1997, when they traded for $106.25. Rival drugmaker Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE - news) last month said that its shareholders would vote on a three-for-one split on April 22 at the company's annual meeting. Pfizer's board of directors will then vote on the stock split. Pfizer's closing price Tuesday of 130-13/16 represents a 75 percent increase from late 1997, helped by the 1998 launch of blockbuster anti-impotence drug Viagra.