Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Grows Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 15.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 437,391 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 57,614 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $49,670,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Marco Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC now owns 97,337 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,054,000 after buying an additional 3,196 shares in the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 34,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,986,000 after buying an additional 2,163 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC now owns 54,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,206,000 after buying an additional 1,475 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 117,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,305,000 after buying an additional 17,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SevenBridge Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC now owns 60,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,866,000 after buying an additional 4,042 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Guggenheim lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Truist Financial lowered their target price 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. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of MRK opened at $99.18 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $250.89 billion, a PE ratio of 20.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a fifty day moving average of $107.11 and a 200 day moving average of $117.83. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $94.48 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its 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. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.