Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by Navellier & Associates Inc.

Navellier & Associates Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 17.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 12,718 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,761 shares during the period. Navellier & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,444,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3,714.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,023,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $794,847,000 after buying an additional 5,865,948 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth about $724,776,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,876.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,971,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,450,000 after acquiring an additional 2,946,742 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,782,000 after acquiring an additional 2,473,346 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 230.8% during the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,807,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $347,622,000 after buying an additional 1,959,152 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $97.50 on Thursday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $94.48 and a one year high of $134.63. The company has a 50-day moving average of $107.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $118.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market cap of $246.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.43, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 64.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MRK. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Daiwa America downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Barclays decreased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.