Janus Henderson Group PLC Trims Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Janus Henderson Group PLC lessened its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 18.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 8,769,626 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,921,052 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $995,888,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MRK. IRON Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 1,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% during the second quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 10,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,302,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,297,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $516,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the period. Finally, Bennett Associates Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% in the second quarter. Bennett Associates Wealth Management now owns 1,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Guggenheim decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Daiwa America downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. 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. Truist Financial dropped their price target on 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, Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.0 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $100.59 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $254.46 billion, a PE ratio of 21.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.39. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $105.54 and its 200 day moving average is $116.77. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $94.48 and a one year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company 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 an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s 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.