Net Worth Advisory Group Invests $1.70 Million in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 14,947 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,697,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of 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 raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,841,233,000 after buying an additional 5,627,923 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at about $724,776,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,782,000 after buying an additional 2,473,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 230.8% during the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,807,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $347,622,000 after acquiring an additional 1,959,152 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MRK. Bank of America cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. 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. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of MRK opened at $108.70 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $275.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 120.78, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $134.63. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $114.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $122.45. 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 data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($2.06) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. 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.