Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Has $70.64 Million Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 10.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 622,023 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 57,198 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $70,637,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. TruWealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.3% in the third quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,202 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,045,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 63,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,258,000 after buying an additional 2,508 shares during the period. Cardinal Capital Management boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.7% in the third quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 77,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,837,000 after acquiring an additional 4,182 shares in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.2% during the third quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 28,154 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,197,000 after purchasing an additional 1,647 shares during the period. Finally, Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.6% during the third quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC now owns 3,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MRK. Barclays reduced 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 report on Monday, October 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $109.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $277.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $114.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.60.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned ($2.06) earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 342.22%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

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.