Commerce Bank Grows Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Commerce Bank raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,307,875 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 10,991 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up approximately 1.1% of Commerce Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Commerce Bank owned 0.05% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $172,574,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Stonegate Investment Group LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% during the first quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 24,915 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,288,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 26,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,893,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 5,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $549,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hendershot Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Hendershot Investments Inc. now owns 15,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,079,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Berenberg Bank lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $128.17 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $324.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 141.47, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.38. 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. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $128.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $125.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly 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 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.40%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.