Shum Financial Group Inc. Invests $829,000 in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Shum Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 7,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $829,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 55,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,332,000 after purchasing an additional 5,088 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.4% during the 1st 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 period. Creekmur Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.2% during the 1st 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 period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 25.4% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 145,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,257,000 after acquiring an additional 29,533 shares during the period. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth about $1,293,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $1.19 on Tuesday, hitting $99.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,159,743 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,094,927. 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. has a 1 year low of $94.48 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $106.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $117.54. The company has a market capitalization of $252.89 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 announced 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. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.81 per share. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 64.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on MRK shares. Daiwa Capital Markets cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Daiwa America lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.