Primecap Management Co. CA Has $7.59 Million Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Primecap Management Co. CA lessened its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 66,800 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,000 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $7,586,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 63,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,211,000 after purchasing an additional 8,985 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,837,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $208,649,000 after buying an additional 62,047 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 30.2% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 246,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,983,000 after buying an additional 57,106 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 114.2% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 802,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,205,000 after acquiring an additional 427,831 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.3% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,973,364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,655,000 after acquiring an additional 150,873 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MRK shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Daiwa America lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $99.17 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $250.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $107.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $117.92. 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 fifty-two week low of $94.48 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The company 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 quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side 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 paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. 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.