Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 103,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,303,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $148,000. Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Hart & Patterson Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $491,000. Skyline Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $290,000. Finally, BlueChip Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $305,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Societe Generale downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Check Out Our Latest Report on Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK opened at $127.99 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $128.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.99. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $133.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $324.17 billion, a PE ratio of 142.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

(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.

Further Reading

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