Long Run Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Long Run Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,604 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the quarter. Long Run Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,417,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Truist Financial raised 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. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded up $0.40 on Monday, reaching $114.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,812,664 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,673,633. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $123.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $126.09. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. The company has a market cap of $288.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 126.78, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.67% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($2.06) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.