Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 1,795 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 23,097 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,795 shares during the quarter. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,518,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 4,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $524,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Prosperity Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Prosperity Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,365 shares of the company’s stock valued at $388,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co now owns 5,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $604,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. King Wealth raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. King Wealth now owns 7,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $766,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LifePro Asset Management raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. LifePro Asset Management now owns 7,669 shares of the company’s stock valued at $790,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MRK. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $122.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.14.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.2 %

MRK stock traded up $0.23 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $125.54. 8,811,254 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,657,022. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $130.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $124.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $112.27. The stock has a market cap of $317.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 896.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 0.61% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The company had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.58 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2,200.00%.

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.