DRW Securities LLC Has $300,000 Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

DRW Securities LLC lessened its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 74.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,643 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,734 shares during the quarter. DRW Securities LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $300,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Quent Capital LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 1,048 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Resource Group bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at $202,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth $335,000. Burney Co. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.6% in the first quarter. Burney Co. now owns 102,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,511,000 after purchasing an additional 7,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Redwood Grove Capital LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% in the first quarter. Redwood Grove Capital LLC now owns 94,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,403,000 after purchasing an additional 5,300 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MRK shares. Bank of America reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Daiwa America lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE MRK opened at $103.04 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $260.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.60, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $106.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $117.24. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $94.48 and a 12 month high of $134.63.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.