Well Done LLC Buys 127 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Well Done LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,075 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the quarter. Well Done LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth about $39,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% during the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.3% during the first quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1,475.6% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 35,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 32,832 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. 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. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $0.83 on Friday, hitting $108.92. 1,324,989 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,729,003. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $114.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $275.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 121.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($2.06) EPS. Analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

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.