Avior Wealth Management LLC Grows Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 12,012 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 433 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,364,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. AM Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth $34,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter valued at about $39,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $97.43 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $107.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $118.24. The company has a market cap of $246.46 billion, a PE ratio of 20.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $94.48 and a 1-year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business 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 $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 64.57%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.