Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. Has $6.09 Million Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 41.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 46,158 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,499 shares during the period. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $6,091,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 42.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 241,781 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,359,000 after buying an additional 71,517 shares during the period. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $562,000. Tectonic Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 53,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,810,000 after acquiring an additional 3,595 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co of the South bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $2,889,000. Finally, Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,518,000 after purchasing an additional 1,795 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Berenberg Bank upped their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $135.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK traded down $0.55 on Friday, reaching $125.30. 6,466,602 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,292,268. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $128.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $126.50. The stock has a market cap of $317.36 billion, a PE ratio of 139.22, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. 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.