Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Purchased by V Square Quantitative Management LLC

V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,154 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,715 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises 0.9% of V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,923,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% during the first quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. IRON Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the second quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 1,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% during the second quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 10,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,302,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% in the second quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,297,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vista Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.0% in the second quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on MRK. UBS Group decreased their price target on 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. Evercore ISI raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK traded down $0.83 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $108.92. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,324,989 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,729,003. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $134.63. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $114.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $122.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $275.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($2.06) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.83%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

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.