Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Buys 273 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,171 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $946,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on 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. Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $135.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.2 %

MRK stock traded up $1.52 on Friday, reaching $125.77. 6,848,758 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,046,289. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $128.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $126.17. The company has a market cap of $318.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 139.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th were paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.