Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Purchased by Lake Street Private Wealth LLC

Lake Street Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 27,724 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 530 shares during the period. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,658,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter worth $214,000. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,871,000 after acquiring an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 21.1% in the 1st quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 5,401 shares of the company’s stock worth $713,000 after acquiring an additional 940 shares during the last quarter. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter worth $92,000. Finally, Svenska Handelsbanken AB publ purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,390,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MRK shares. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Berenberg Bank lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $125.85 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $318.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 139.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.38. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $129.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $124.71. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. Analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 342.22%.

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.