SWS Partners Raises Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

SWS Partners raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,659 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 480 shares during the period. SWS Partners’ holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,232,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $63,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $148,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $11,303,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America cut their price target 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded up $1.10 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $110.79. The stock had a trading volume of 4,921,637 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,746,105. The company has a market capitalization of $280.61 billion, a PE ratio of 121.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $114.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $122.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($2.06) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

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.