McIlrath & Eck LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

McIlrath & Eck LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,067 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $575,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 75,809,383 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,608,914,000 after buying an additional 3,327,404 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,876.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,971,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,450,000 after buying an additional 2,946,742 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 157.9% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 4,264,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $484,231,000 after acquiring an additional 2,610,800 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,782,000 after acquiring an additional 2,473,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 68.7% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,388,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $611,924,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194,463 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $121.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Daiwa Capital Markets cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.20.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $101.03 on Wednesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $94.48 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The company has a market capitalization of $255.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.18, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $104.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a $0.81 dividend. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 64.57%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.