Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Acquired by Cypress Wealth Services LLC

Cypress Wealth Services LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 58.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,398 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,255 shares during the quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $448,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Algert Global LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter worth about $454,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 86,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,938,000 after acquiring an additional 5,421 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.2% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 695,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,594,000 after acquiring an additional 27,759 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Services LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 45.3% during the third quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 6,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $630,000 after acquiring an additional 1,885 shares during the period. Finally, Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 91.8% during the third quarter. Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank now owns 26,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,721,000 after acquiring an additional 12,649 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on MRK shares. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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 report on Wednesday, March 27th. Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Societe Generale cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE:MRK traded down $1.71 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $129.79. 11,923,877 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,147,509. The company has a market capitalization of $328.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 144.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $129.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $123.96.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 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.