Lmcg Investments LLC Buys 1,904 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Lmcg Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 114,286 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,904 shares during the quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $11,369,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.5% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 51,369 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,359,000 after buying an additional 1,247 shares in the last quarter. Certified Advisory Corp raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.9% in the second quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 6,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $761,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares during the last quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the second quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 26,897 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,330,000 after purchasing an additional 920 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 32.5% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,584,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $319,922,000 after purchasing an additional 634,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% during the second quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. 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. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective (down previously from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of MRK opened at $96.18 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $94.48 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The company has a market capitalization of $243.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $109.42.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.