Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Purchased by World Investment Advisors LLC

World Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 475.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 131,233 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 108,425 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $14,903,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 473,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,798,000 after purchasing an additional 6,855 shares during the period. Boyar Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. Boyar Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $609,000 after buying an additional 935 shares during the last quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC now owns 25,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,868,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the period. Eaton Financial Holdings Company LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter valued at about $1,466,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 75,070 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,525,000 after acquiring an additional 1,228 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

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Daiwa America downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.20.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $99.77 on Thursday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $94.48 and a 12-month 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. The company has a market capitalization of $252.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $103.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $115.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 64.57%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.