CVA Family Office LLC Has $1.46 Million Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

CVA Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,027 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Triangle Securities Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Triangle Securities Wealth Management now owns 16,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,125,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% during the first quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC now owns 39,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,167,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.3% during the first quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,677 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,937,000 after buying an additional 1,722 shares in the last quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 25.9% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, Threadgill Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.3% in the 1st quarter. Threadgill Financial LLC now owns 2,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock opened at $130.72 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $128.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $123.37. The company has a market capitalization of $331.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 145.24, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $133.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.40 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 342.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Societe Generale cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.