Qsemble Capital Management LP Has $5.43 Million Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Qsemble Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 88.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,854 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 22,480 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up about 1.0% of Qsemble Capital Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Qsemble Capital Management LP’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,434,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter valued at $32,000. AM Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter worth about $34,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on MRK. 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 report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays reduced their target price 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. Daiwa Capital Markets cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of MRK stock traded up $1.28 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $100.46. The company had a trading volume of 1,423,518 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,985,390. 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’s fifty day moving average is $107.11 and its 200 day moving average is $117.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $254.13 billion, a PE ratio of 21.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.40. 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 issued its 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. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. 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. 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.