ZRC Wealth Management LLC Has $204,000 Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

ZRC Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 10.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,545 shares of the company’s stock after selling 173 shares during the quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $204,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MRK. NTV Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 26,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,893,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 5,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $549,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $288,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,089,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC now owns 12,229 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. 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. Berenberg Bank upped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given 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 stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded down $1.87 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $125.85. The company had a trading volume of 4,002,054 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,312,443. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $134.63. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $129.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.71. The firm has a market cap of $318.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 139.83, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued 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 Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.