Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. decreased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,469,474 shares of the company’s stock after selling 134,690 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for approximately 3.5% of Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. owned about 0.06% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $166,873,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 55,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,332,000 after buying an additional 5,088 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.4% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 10,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,351,000 after acquiring an additional 1,048 shares during the last quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.2% during the first quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 1,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $219,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 25.4% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 145,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,257,000 after acquiring an additional 29,533 shares during the period. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at about $1,293,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded down $0.42 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $100.74. 414,752 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,091,625. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $106.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $117.54. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $254.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.40.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 64.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Daiwa America downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.86.

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.