Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Purchased by Los Angeles Capital Management LLC

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 125.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 848,781 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 472,479 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $111,997,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. NTV Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 26,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,893,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 5,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $549,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,089,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC now owns 12,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on MRK shares. TheStreet downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Societe Generale downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $127.99 on Thursday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $133.10. The stock has a market cap of $324.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 142.21, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $128.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $123.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 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.