Advocate Group LLC Purchases 4,905 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Advocate Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 81,107 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up about 1.5% of Advocate Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Advocate Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $8,069,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC now owns 4,541 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Constitution Capital LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% in the third quarter. Constitution Capital LLC now owns 4,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $562,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. E&G Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the third quarter. E&G Advisors LP now owns 14,698 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,669,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Massachusetts Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 22,474 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,552,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shayne & Jacobs LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Shayne & Jacobs LLC now owns 5,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $637,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $136.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and issued a $110.00 price target (down previously from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Leerink Partners dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of MRK opened at $95.54 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $241.69 billion, a PE ratio of 20.03, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company’s fifty day moving average is $99.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $108.81. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $94.48 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.67 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.39%. 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 payout ratio is 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.