Dohj LLC Acquires New Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Dohj LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 6,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $809,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Algert Global LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at $454,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 86,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,938,000 after purchasing an additional 5,421 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 695,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,594,000 after purchasing an additional 27,759 shares during the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 45.3% during the 3rd quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 6,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $630,000 after purchasing an additional 1,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 91.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank now owns 26,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,721,000 after purchasing an additional 12,649 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK traded down $1.71 during trading on Thursday, reaching $129.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,923,877 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,147,509. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $328.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 144.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $129.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $123.96.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 342.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MRK shares. Societe Generale lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Berenberg Bank upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

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.