Peterson Wealth Services Boosts Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Peterson Wealth Services boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 64.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 18,415 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,232 shares during the quarter. Peterson Wealth Services’ holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,008,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 180.2% during the third quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 311 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,500.0% during the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 416 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MRK. UBS Group boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Societe Generale lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, March 11th. TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $142.00 target price (up from $139.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.25.

Insider Activity

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE MRK traded down $0.37 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $125.00. 1,065,422 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,247,717. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $133.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $126.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $114.76. The firm has a market cap of $316.63 billion, a PE ratio of 891.43, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The business had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.62 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2,200.00%.

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.