Boston Family Office LLC Sells 1,585 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Boston Family Office LLC lowered its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 52,039 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,585 shares during the period. Boston Family Office LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,910,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,653,435 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,664,044,000 after acquiring an additional 387,420 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 437,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,670,000 after purchasing an additional 57,614 shares in the last quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC now owns 97,337 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,054,000 after purchasing an additional 3,196 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.6% in the third quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 34,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,986,000 after buying an additional 2,163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Investment Counsel LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% in the third quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC now owns 54,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,206,000 after buying an additional 1,475 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MRK. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $99.18 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $250.89 billion, a PE ratio of 20.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $107.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $117.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 64.57%.

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.