TD Private Client Wealth LLC Reduces Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

TD Private Client Wealth LLC reduced its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 83,039 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,688 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $9,430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. AM Squared Ltd bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth $34,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter valued at $36,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.20.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of MRK stock opened at $101.03 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $104.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $115.56. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $94.48 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The company has a market cap of $255.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.39. 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. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. 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.