Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC Purchases 96 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,541 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $516,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% in the first quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. IRON Financial LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 1,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 10,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,302,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Forza Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% during the second quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,297,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vista Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.0% in the second 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. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $110.28 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $114.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $123.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $279.32 billion, a PE ratio of 122.53, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.39.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 342.22%.

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.