Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC Purchases New Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $558,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,807,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,135,785,000 after buying an additional 514,060 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 17,756,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,016,374,000 after buying an additional 309,656 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,653,435 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,664,044,000 after buying an additional 387,420 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 9,874,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,121,372,000 after buying an additional 114,080 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,693,065 shares of the company’s stock worth $952,402,000 after buying an additional 64,996 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on MRK. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Daiwa America lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $103.12 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $94.48 and a 1 year high of $134.63. 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 company has a market capitalization of $260.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a 50-day moving average of $105.85 and a 200-day moving average of $117.15.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.57%.

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.