Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Acquired by Buckingham Capital Management Inc.

Buckingham Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 13.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,677 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,722 shares during the quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,937,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MRK. NTV Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 26,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,893,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased 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. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,089,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC now owns 12,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MRK. Truist Financial lifted their target price 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. Societe Generale downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company 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 given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK opened at $130.72 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $128.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $123.37. 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 $133.10. The stock has a market cap of $331.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.24, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. Analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.