Groupama Asset Managment Has $176.53 Million Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Groupama Asset Managment boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 10.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,554,497 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 144,961 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises about 3.5% of Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $176,529,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 26.5% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,564,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $177,639,000 after acquiring an additional 327,426 shares during the period. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC now owns 47,846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,048 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 556,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,178,000 after acquiring an additional 20,123 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 22.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 75,324 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,554,000 after buying an additional 13,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter worth about $224,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Daiwa America cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.80.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock opened at $103.09 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 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 firm 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’s 50-day moving average price is $104.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $115.75.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 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.