Hemington Wealth Management Sells 98 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Hemington Wealth Management cut its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,612 shares of the company’s stock after selling 98 shares during the period. Hemington Wealth Management’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $609,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Chapman Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at approximately $207,000. SPC Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 30.9% during the first quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 19,672 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,596,000 after purchasing an additional 4,643 shares during the period. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% during the first quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 17,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,303,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. 9258 Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% during the first quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,091,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Finally, Team Hewins LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% during the first quarter. Team Hewins LLC now owns 23,630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,136,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on MRK. Berenberg Bank raised their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE MRK traded up $1.59 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $128.89. 7,048,753 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,415,831. The stock has a market capitalization of $326.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 143.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.38. 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 $128.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $125.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th were given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

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.