Sendero Wealth Management LLC Purchases 188 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Sendero Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,635 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the quarter. Sendero Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $526,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 85,595,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,331,676,000 after buying an additional 3,153,333 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,233,000 after acquiring an additional 5,627,923 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,551,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,477,357,000 after acquiring an additional 212,852 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 12,050,924 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,313,741,000 after acquiring an additional 253,981 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,362,812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,102,135,000 after purchasing an additional 56,644 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $109.40 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $114.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $123.36. The stock has a market cap of $277.09 billion, a PE ratio of 20.30, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($2.06) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

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.