D.B. Root & Company LLC Buys 373 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

D.B. Root & Company LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 12.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,394 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the period. D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $338,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 119,026,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,606,360,000 after buying an additional 1,536,474 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 3,327,404 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,155,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,696,060,000 after acquiring an additional 2,134,296 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,807,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,135,785,000 after purchasing an additional 514,060 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 17,756,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,016,374,000 after purchasing an additional 309,656 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on MRK shares. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and set a $110.00 price target (down previously from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight 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, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $123.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $96.57 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $244.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $94.48 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $99.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $109.11.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.