Hodges Capital Management Inc. Has $8.76 Million Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Hodges Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.3% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 66,377 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,291 shares during the quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $8,759,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Berenberg Bank upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Societe Generale lowered 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 report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 4.6 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $123.80 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $129.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $124.27. The company has a market capitalization of $313.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 137.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.39. 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. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.