Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Purchased by Next Level Private LLC

Next Level Private LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,316 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 469 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for about 1.2% of Next Level Private LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Next Level Private LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,988,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Asio Capital LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Asio Capital LLC now owns 40,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,603,000 after acquiring an additional 4,418 shares during the period. Meyer Handelman Co. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 361,973 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,106,000 after acquiring an additional 3,738 shares during the period. First Affirmative Financial Network increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 6,681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $759,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045 shares during the period. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH now owns 9,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,134,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares during the period. Finally, Lion Street Advisors LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC now owns 3,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 587 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group dropped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock opened at $109.71 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $114.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $123.16. The firm has a market cap of $277.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.35, a PEG ratio of 1.55 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. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($2.06) EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders 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 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.14%.

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.