Peddock Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 287 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Peddock Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,649 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the period. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,004,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at $561,000. Visionary Wealth Advisors increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 12,954 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the period. Vista Investment Management increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Vista Investment Management now owns 12,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,351,000 after buying an additional 1,233 shares during the period. Ethic Inc. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 239,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,082,000 after acquiring an additional 14,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobi Capital Management LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 61,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,743,000 after purchasing an additional 1,844 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK traded up $0.62 on Wednesday, hitting $109.14. 1,583,251 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,747,658. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. The business’s fifty day moving average is $114.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $123.45. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $276.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 120.56, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.06) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 342.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on MRK. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.42.

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.