Glenmede Trust Co. NA Acquires 415,340 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 60.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,098,241 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 415,340 shares during the quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $124,716,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Freedom Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,290 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,368 shares during the period. Cynosure Group LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 18.2% in the third quarter. Cynosure Group LLC now owns 4,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $483,000 after buying an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. Hardy Reed LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% in the third quarter. Hardy Reed LLC now owns 15,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,775,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 385,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,802,000 after purchasing an additional 9,305 shares during the period. Finally, Thematics Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Thematics Asset Management now owns 67,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,706,000 after buying an additional 11,945 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MRK. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group cut their price target on 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. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on 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 issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK stock opened at $101.62 on Wednesday. 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. has a 1 year low of $94.48 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The company has a market cap of $257.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $106.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $117.34.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast 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 issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio 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.