Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Raises Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 50.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,926,675 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 647,882 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for 0.8% of Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned about 0.08% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $218,793,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IRON Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% in the second quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 1,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 10,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,302,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Forza Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,297,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.0% during the second quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bennett Associates Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the second quarter. Bennett Associates Wealth Management now owns 1,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $100.59 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $254.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $105.54 and its 200 day moving average is $116.77. 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 one year low of $94.48 and a one year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given 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 3.22%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.57%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.