Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Acquires 56,495 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 75.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 131,424 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 56,495 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $14,924,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,653,435 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,664,044,000 after purchasing an additional 387,420 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 15.2% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 437,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,670,000 after buying an additional 57,614 shares during the period. Marco Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% in the third quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC now owns 97,337 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,054,000 after buying an additional 3,196 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 34,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,986,000 after buying an additional 2,163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Investment Counsel LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC now owns 54,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,206,000 after acquiring an additional 1,475 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Guggenheim lowered their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $101.62 on Wednesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $94.48 and a 52-week 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’s fifty day moving average is $106.44 and its 200 day moving average is $117.34. The company has a market cap of $257.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.30, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.92%.

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.