Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Acquired by Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC

Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 7,526 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 334 shares during the period. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $861,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3,714.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,023,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $794,847,000 after purchasing an additional 5,865,948 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,233,000 after acquiring an additional 5,627,923 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter valued at about $724,776,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,782,000 after acquiring an additional 2,473,346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 230.8% during the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,807,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $347,622,000 after purchasing an additional 1,959,152 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays lowered 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 research note on Monday, October 7th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on 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. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on 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. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.0 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $108.70 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $114.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $122.45. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The company has a market cap of $275.32 billion, a PE ratio of 120.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($2.06) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

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.