Benjamin Edwards Inc. Grows Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1,260.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 381,749 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 353,692 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $43,356,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth about $32,000. AM Squared Ltd bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price 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. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE MRK opened at $101.64 on Monday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $94.48 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $105.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $116.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $257.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced 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. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.