Mirabella Financial Services LLP Takes $17.59 Million Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Mirabella Financial Services LLP purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 154,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,590,000. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for about 1.1% of Mirabella Financial Services LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 55,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,332,000 after purchasing an additional 5,088 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 10,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,351,000 after purchasing an additional 1,048 shares in the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 237.4% in the first quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 76,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,079,000 after buying an additional 53,748 shares during the period. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% during the first quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oxford Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,594,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MRK. 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 research report on Friday, November 1st. Daiwa America downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Guggenheim cut their price objective 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. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $100.25 on Monday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $253.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.02, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $107.11 and a 200-day moving average of $117.75.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly 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. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. 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 presently 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.