Signet Financial Management LLC Acquires 214 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Signet Financial Management LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,313 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 214 shares during the period. Signet Financial Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,361,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter valued at $454,000. Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.8% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 26,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,679,000 after buying an additional 1,433 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 86,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,938,000 after purchasing an additional 5,421 shares during the last quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 63.2% in the third quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 4,778 shares of the company’s stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 211.0% in the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 118,729 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,223,000 after purchasing an additional 80,547 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on MRK. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Berenberg Bank boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.3 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $129.79 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a market capitalization of $328.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 144.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $129.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $123.96.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio 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.