BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Decreases Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp decreased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 12.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 422,607 shares of the company’s stock after selling 62,496 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $47,991,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Encompass More Asset Management purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter valued at $279,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 115.3% during the third quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 20,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,384,000 after buying an additional 11,246 shares during the last quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% during the third quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC now owns 18,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,100,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $919,000 after buying an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter worth about $8,402,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $101.66 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $94.48 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $105.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $116.95. The company has a market cap of $257.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.31, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MRK. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Daiwa America cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.86.

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.