Morton Capital Management LLC CA Acquires 578 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Morton Capital Management LLC CA lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 8.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,367 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the quarter. Morton Capital Management LLC CA’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $837,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $561,000. Visionary Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 12,954 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,412,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 65.5% in the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 261,897 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,552,000 after acquiring an additional 22,385 shares during the period. Finally, First Long Island Investors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $203,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued 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 issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $109.65 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $114.79 and its 200 day moving average is $123.36. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $277.72 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 issued 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. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($2.06) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.