Cwm LLC Buys 12,094 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Cwm LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 534,583 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,094 shares during the quarter. Cwm LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $60,707,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. West Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,348 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 221,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,190,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares in the last quarter. Saxon Interests Inc. grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.4% during the third quarter. Saxon Interests Inc. now owns 17,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,001,000 after purchasing an additional 1,801 shares during the period. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% in the third quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 17,649 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,004,000 after buying an additional 287 shares during the period. Finally, Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE:MRK opened at $110.28 on Thursday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $114.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $123.45. 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 firm has a market cap of $279.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 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 the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted ($2.06) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

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