Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Position Raised by Novare Capital Management LLC

Novare Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 13.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 188,165 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 22,077 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for approximately 1.8% of Novare Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Novare Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $21,368,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $63,000. Northwest Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $67,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $188,000. Twin Focus Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $301,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,551,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,477,357,000 after purchasing an additional 212,852 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:MRK traded down $0.43 on Monday, hitting $109.30. 2,115,835 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,735,043. The company has a market cap of $276.84 billion, a PE ratio of 121.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $114.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $123.08.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($2.06) EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 EPS 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 issued a $0.77 dividend. 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 2.82%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.