Atlas Private Wealth Advisors Raises Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Atlas Private Wealth Advisors lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,136 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 620 shares during the period. Atlas Private Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,400,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 85,595,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,331,676,000 after acquiring an additional 3,153,333 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,972,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,632,255,000 after acquiring an additional 1,696,151 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,841,233,000 after acquiring an additional 5,627,923 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,551,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,477,357,000 after acquiring an additional 212,852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 12,050,924 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,313,741,000 after purchasing an additional 253,981 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.1 %

MRK stock opened at $110.42 on Thursday. 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 twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The company’s 50 day moving average is $114.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $123.36. The stock has a market cap of $279.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 122.53, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($2.06) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 342.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on MRK. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.