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

Aprio Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 68.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,830 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,767 shares during the quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $901,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. NTV Asset Management LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $549,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,089,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Holdings LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC now owns 12,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE MRK opened at $130.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $128.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $123.25. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $133.10. The company has a market capitalization of $330.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 145.07, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released 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 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 last year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Truist Financial boosted 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 boosted 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. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Societe Generale downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. One 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

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.