BIP Wealth LLC Has $573,000 Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

BIP Wealth LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 23.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,044 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 970 shares during the quarter. BIP Wealth LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $573,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 193,018 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,925,000 after purchasing an additional 9,387 shares during the last quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,380,469 shares of the company’s stock valued at $383,886,000 after buying an additional 421,646 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.2% during the third quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 4,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $529,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262 shares during the last quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% during the third quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management now owns 16,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,858,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the period. Finally, New England Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.0% in the third quarter. New England Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,242,000 after acquiring an additional 1,085 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MRK shares. Bank of America cut their target price 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. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays reduced their price target on 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $96.54 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $244.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.24, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $94.48 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $108.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $118.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.57%.

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.