Foundry Partners LLC Sells 698 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Foundry Partners LLC lessened its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 139,682 shares of the company’s stock after selling 698 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $15,862,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 9,874,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,121,372,000 after purchasing an additional 114,080 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,693,065 shares of the company’s stock worth $952,402,000 after purchasing an additional 64,996 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 38.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,530,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $855,119,000 after purchasing an additional 2,095,694 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 7,517,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $853,739,000 after purchasing an additional 19,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 6,537,142 shares of the company’s stock worth $742,358,000 after purchasing an additional 43,578 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Daiwa America lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $97.43 on Thursday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $94.48 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $246.46 billion, a PE ratio of 20.43, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $107.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $118.24.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.57%.

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.