True North Advisors LLC Purchases 1,686 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

True North Advisors LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 15.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,428 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,686 shares during the quarter. True North Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,236,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Traynor Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 104.2% in the fourth quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,724,000 after acquiring an additional 13,976 shares during the last quarter. Independent Wealth Network Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Independent Wealth Network Inc. now owns 2,609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 368,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,650,000 after purchasing an additional 14,855 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Hudson Capital Management LLC now owns 2,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 1,902,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $189,262,000 after buying an additional 35,525 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on MRK shares. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. HSBC raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $110.00 price target (down from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $96.57 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $244.28 billion, a PE ratio of 20.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $94.48 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $99.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $109.11.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 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.