Kennedy Investment Group Acquires 590 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Kennedy Investment Group boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 17.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,057 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 590 shares during the quarter. Kennedy Investment Group’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $461,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Berry Wealth Group LP grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Berry Wealth Group LP now owns 37,033 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,205,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Castleview Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 2,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 35,450 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,026,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. Violich Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Violich Capital Management Inc. now owns 91,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,360,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.0% during the third quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 32,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,655,000 after acquiring an additional 1,250 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on MRK. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group decreased 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. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK stock traded down $1.40 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $107.30. The stock had a trading volume of 3,932,376 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,745,759. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $114.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.80 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $271.77 billion, a PE ratio of 120.78, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned ($2.06) earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

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.