Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Buys 4,713 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 10.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,650 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,713 shares during the period. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $6,815,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 85,595,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,331,676,000 after purchasing an additional 3,153,333 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,966,029,000 after purchasing an additional 4,731,152 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth $3,108,366,000. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,972,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,632,255,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,566,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,479,071,000 after purchasing an additional 228,578 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $129.79 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $129.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $123.96. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $328.73 billion, a PE ratio of 144.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

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