1 week Ago By ABMN Staff
GAMMA Investing LLC trimmed its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. ( NYSE:MRK – Free Report ) by 5.
5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 42,930 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,488 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co.
, Inc. were worth $4,271,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MRK.
Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc.
by 12.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.
now owns 16,049,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,759,800,000 after acquiring an additional 1,836,505 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd.
lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.
6% during the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd.
now owns 63,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,211,000 after purchasing an additional 8,985 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co.
, Inc. by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter.
Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,807,293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,135,785,000 after purchasing an additional 514,060 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co.
, Inc. by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter.
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,837,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $208,649,000 after purchasing an additional 62,047 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc.
by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,102,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,204,000 after buying an additional 34,715 shares during the last quarter.
76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of equities research analysts have commented on MRK shares.
Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc.
in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company.
BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $136.
00 to $105.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Merck & Co.
, Inc. in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company.
Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.
00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co.
, Inc. from $140.00 to $130.
00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.
com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $127.13. Merck & Co.
, Inc. Trading Down 0.3 % Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $99.
17 on Friday. 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. has a 12-month low of $94.48 and a 12-month high of $134.
63. The business has a 50 day moving average of $100.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $112.
19. The company has a market capitalization of $250.86 billion, a PE ratio of 20.
79, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.39.
Merck & Co., Inc. ( NYSE:MRK – Get Free Report ) last posted its 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 net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%.
The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion.
During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.
4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc.
will post 7.73 EPS 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. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th.
Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.
92%. About Merck & Co., Inc.
( Free Report ) 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.
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