Ewa LLC Sells 649 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Ewa LLC lessened its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 22.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,248 shares of the company’s stock after selling 649 shares during the quarter. Ewa LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $255,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 75,809,383 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,608,914,000 after buying an additional 3,327,404 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,876.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,971,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,450,000 after acquiring an additional 2,946,742 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 157.9% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 4,264,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $484,231,000 after acquiring an additional 2,610,800 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,782,000 after purchasing an additional 2,473,346 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 68.7% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,388,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $611,924,000 after purchasing an additional 2,194,463 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on MRK. Citigroup cut their price target 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. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. HSBC raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.80.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of MRK stock opened at $103.09 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $94.48 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $260.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $104.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $115.75.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 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 revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company 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 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. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.