Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Purchased by OLD National Bancorp IN

OLD National Bancorp IN raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 119,902 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $13,616,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MRK. MJP Associates Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 15.9% during the first quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 12,586 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,661,000 after purchasing an additional 1,725 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Morris Harris LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 34.3% in the 1st quarter. Sanders Morris Harris LLC now owns 6,066 shares of the company’s stock worth $800,000 after buying an additional 1,549 shares in the last quarter. GSG Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter valued at about $268,000. FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 40.3% during the first quarter. FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,340 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,156,000 after acquiring an additional 4,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, &PARTNERS increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 50.2% during the first quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 28,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,760,000 after acquiring an additional 9,452 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK stock opened at $108.70 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $275.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 120.78, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $114.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($2.06) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, 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 given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.83%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 342.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on MRK. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. UBS Group reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.