Maia Wealth LLC Invests $454,000 in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Maia Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $454,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $66,000. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $219,000. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.0% during the 4th quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,727 shares of the company’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares during the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at about $332,000. Finally, Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. now owns 48,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,319,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK stock traded down $1.32 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $113.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 229,906 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,632,744. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The business has a fifty day moving average of $124.83 and a 200-day moving average of $126.25. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $286.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 127.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.67% and a net margin of 21.99%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.06) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.