Appleton Partners Inc. MA Has $13.74 Million Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA lowered its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.5% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 104,162 shares of the company’s stock after selling 552 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for 1.1% of Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $13,744,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cross Staff Investments Inc lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 6,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $732,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Kennedy Investment Group lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 2,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $352,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 12,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,338,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Constitution Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Constitution Capital LLC now owns 3,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Berenberg Bank upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $127.99 on Wednesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $133.10. The company has a market cap of $324.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 142.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $128.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $122.99. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. 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.