World Investment Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

World Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1,097.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 273,058 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 250,250 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $31,008,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MRK. IRON Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 1,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% in the second quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 10,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,302,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% in the second quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,297,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Vista Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bennett Associates Wealth Management increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bennett Associates Wealth Management now owns 1,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on MRK. 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 report on Wednesday, October 9th. Guggenheim cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and four have assigned 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 $130.80.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.5 %

MRK opened at $103.07 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $104.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $116.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $260.73 billion, a PE ratio of 21.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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 paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 64.57%.

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.