HealthInvest Partners AB Increases Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

HealthInvest Partners AB lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 37.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 154,699 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 41,965 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up about 8.3% of HealthInvest Partners AB’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. HealthInvest Partners AB’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $17,568,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3,714.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,023,853 shares of the company’s stock worth $794,847,000 after acquiring an additional 5,865,948 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth about $724,776,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,876.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,971,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,450,000 after acquiring an additional 2,946,742 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,782,000 after purchasing an additional 2,473,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 230.8% during the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,807,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $347,622,000 after buying an additional 1,959,152 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $0.19 during trading on Thursday, hitting $97.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 782,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,930,646. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $107.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $118.24. The company has a market capitalization of $246.01 billion, a PE ratio of 20.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.40. 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.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. 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.