Marco Investment Management LLC Buys 3,196 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Marco Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 97,337 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,196 shares during the quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $11,054,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Summit Trail Advisors LLC lifted 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 during the period. Capital Investment Counsel LLC lifted 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 during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 17.5% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 117,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,305,000 after buying an additional 17,458 shares during the period. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.2% in the third quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC now owns 60,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,866,000 after buying an additional 4,042 shares during the period. Finally, Journey Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.4% in the third quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC now owns 38,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,767,000 after buying an additional 550 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial dropped their price target on 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. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Daiwa America lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE MRK opened at $99.18 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $250.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.79, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $107.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $117.83. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $94.48 and a 12 month 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.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

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