Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases 327,426 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 26.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,564,276 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 327,426 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $177,639,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.2% in the third quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC now owns 47,846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,048 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 556,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,178,000 after purchasing an additional 20,123 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 22.4% during the third quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 75,324 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,554,000 after buying an additional 13,807 shares during the last quarter. CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Finally, Anson Funds Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,271,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MRK. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Daiwa America downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.80.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $103.09 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $260.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.61, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $94.48 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. 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 price of $104.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $115.75.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The business 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 for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.