Fred Alger Management LLC Has $4.84 Million Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Fred Alger Management LLC lessened its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 54.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 42,626 shares of the company’s stock after selling 50,673 shares during the quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,841,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,941,000. Quent Capital LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 10,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,303,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% during the second quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 73,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,068,000 after acquiring an additional 4,466 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 39.8% during the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 35,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,717,000 after acquiring an additional 10,179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Monterey Private Wealth Inc. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.1% in the second quarter. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. now owns 7,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $870,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MRK. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Daiwa America downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $101.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $94.48 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $105.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $116.87. The firm has a market cap of $257.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.31, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 67.92%.

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.