Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Bought by Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC

Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 61,566 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 372 shares during the quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $6,991,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MRK. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. AM Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $101.19 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $106.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $117.54. The company has a market capitalization of $255.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.21, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $94.48 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released 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. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. 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.