Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Acquired by Avitas Wealth Management LLC

Avitas Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 47,088 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for 0.9% of Avitas Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position. Avitas Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,829,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Stonegate Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% during the first quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 24,915 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,288,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 26,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,893,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 5,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $549,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Endowment Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.0 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $0.05 during trading on Friday, hitting $116.60. The company had a trading volume of 8,360,045 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,672,231. The stock has a market cap of $295.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 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. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $125.72.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.67% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted ($2.06) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.