Livelsberger Financial Advisory Makes New $148,000 Investment in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,000.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MRK. TheStreet downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Truist Financial raised 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. Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Societe Generale downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of MRK opened at $127.99 on Wednesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $133.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $128.66 and its 200-day moving average is $122.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $324.17 billion, a PE ratio of 142.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.39. 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. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 342.22%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.