National Bank of Canada FI Boosts Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 72.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,020,093 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,689,212 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI owned about 0.16% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $456,545,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Hendershot Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hendershot Investments Inc. now owns 15,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,757,000 after acquiring an additional 1,014 shares during the period. Goldstream Capital Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $450,000. Glen Eagle Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Glen Eagle Advisors LLC now owns 8,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $985,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% in the third quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 181,234 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,581,000 after purchasing an additional 2,353 shares during the period. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.5% during the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 217,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,656,000 after purchasing an additional 27,461 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. HSBC upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Daiwa America cut shares of 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 given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.80.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $103.07 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $104.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $116.16. The company has a market capitalization of $260.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $94.48 and a 1 year high of $134.63. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.81 dividend. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.57%.

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.