Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Acquired by Houlihan Financial Resource Group Ltd.

Houlihan Financial Resource Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,714 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the quarter. Houlihan Financial Resource Group Ltd.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $622,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Cross Staff Investments Inc boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 6,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $732,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth about $212,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% during the first quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 77,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,270,000 after buying an additional 4,433 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Investment Group increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 2,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the period. Finally, Schear Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $352,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Berenberg Bank lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $1.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $127.76. The company had a trading volume of 6,995,589 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,405,373. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $128.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $125.57. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. 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 company has a market capitalization of $323.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 141.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. On average, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th were issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.