Triangle Securities Wealth Management Acquires 408 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Triangle Securities Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 16,104 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 408 shares during the quarter. Triangle Securities Wealth Management’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,125,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Red Spruce Capital LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% during the first quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC now owns 39,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,167,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,937,000 after buying an additional 1,722 shares during the period. Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 25.9% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Threadgill Financial LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Threadgill Financial LLC now owns 2,256 shares of the company’s stock worth $298,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 17.5% during the first quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $305,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $130.72 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $128.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $123.37. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $133.10. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $331.09 billion, a PE ratio of 145.24, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MRK shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Truist Financial increased their price objective 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. Finally, Societe Generale cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. One 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

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.