Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Bought by West Financial Advisors LLC

West Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 15.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,348 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $153,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% during the third quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 221,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,190,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the last quarter. Saxon Interests Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Saxon Interests Inc. now owns 17,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,001,000 after buying an additional 1,801 shares during the last quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 17,649 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,004,000 after buying an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Finally, C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.1% in the third quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 5,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $610,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MRK shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Truist Financial dropped their price target 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. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.6 %

MRK opened at $110.28 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $114.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $123.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $279.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.53, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.39.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 342.22%.

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.