Valued Retirements Inc. Takes $243,000 Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Valued Retirements Inc. bought 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 and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $243,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% during the third quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC now owns 35,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,020,000 after buying an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,924 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,020,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% during the third quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 31,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,602,000 after purchasing an additional 710 shares in the last quarter. Brophy Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth approximately $494,000. Finally, Vestcor Inc raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.4% in the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 300,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,157,000 after purchasing an additional 28,360 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of MRK opened at $103.79 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $262.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.76, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $94.48 and a twelve month high of $134.63. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $104.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $115.56.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. 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 3.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MRK shares. Citigroup decreased their price target 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. Hsbc Global Res raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Daiwa America cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.80.

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.