Claro Advisors LLC Has $1.93 Million Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Claro Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,637 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 635 shares during the quarter. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 77.2% during the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 51,757 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,328,000 after buying an additional 22,546 shares during the last quarter. Eubel Brady & Suttman Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% in the third quarter. Eubel Brady & Suttman Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,652 shares of the company’s stock worth $479,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Legacy Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 42.1% during the third quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,025,000 after purchasing an additional 5,795 shares in the last quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% in the third quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 102,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,639,000 after purchasing an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 5,957 shares of the company’s stock worth $613,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MRK shares. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Societe Generale cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, March 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. TheStreet cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Berenberg Bank boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 3.3 %

MRK stock traded up $4.10 on Monday, reaching $127.90. 11,530,529 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,565,867. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $129.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $124.39. The company has a market cap of $323.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 142.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.