EdgeRock Capital LLC Buys 522 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

EdgeRock Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 17.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,529 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 522 shares during the period. EdgeRock Capital LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during 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. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,362,812 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,102,135,000 after purchasing an additional 56,644 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,693,065 shares of the company’s stock valued at $952,402,000 after purchasing an additional 64,996 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 38.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,530,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $855,119,000 after purchasing an additional 2,095,694 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 7,070,287 shares of the company’s stock worth $932,924,000 after buying an additional 296,092 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of MRK opened at $111.54 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $114.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $122.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $282.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 123.93, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. 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.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($2.06) earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on MRK. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock 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 issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

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.