Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stock Position Increased by SteelPeak Wealth LLC

SteelPeak Wealth LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 59.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 25,516 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 9,479 shares during the quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,387,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Breakwater Capital Group raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Breakwater Capital Group now owns 15,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,013,000 after buying an additional 622 shares in the last quarter. Arlington Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter worth approximately $203,000. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $545,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter worth approximately $260,000. Finally, Trilogy Capital Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 111.5% in the 1st quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 5,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $779,000 after purchasing an additional 3,112 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 4.6 %

MRK traded down $6.02 on Friday, reaching $123.80. 57,055,458 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,215,418. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $129.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The company has a market cap of $313.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 137.56, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

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 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors 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 yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 342.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. 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 report on Monday, March 11th. Berenberg Bank boosted 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. TheStreet downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued 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.

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.