Affinity Capital Advisors LLC Has $505,000 Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Affinity Capital Advisors LLC cut its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,830 shares of the company’s stock after selling 165 shares during the period. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $505,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Beech Hill Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.4% during the first quarter. Beech Hill Advisors Inc. now owns 38,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,034,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% during the first quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 77,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,270,000 after purchasing an additional 4,433 shares in the last quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 18.2% during the first quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department now owns 31,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,221,000 after purchasing an additional 4,924 shares in the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.6% during the first quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 243,786 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,168,000 after purchasing an additional 25,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Central Valley Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the first quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 16,581 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,188,000 after purchasing an additional 722 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MRK shares. Societe Generale lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 11th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Berenberg Bank increased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of MRK stock traded down $0.38 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $132.54. 1,453,782 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,057,268. The business has a 50 day moving average of $129.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $123.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a market capitalization of $335.70 billion, a PE ratio of 147.73, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

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.