D.B. Root & Company LLC Takes Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

D.B. Root & Company LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $260,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Algert Global LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at $454,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 77.2% during the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 51,757 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,328,000 after buying an additional 22,546 shares in the last quarter. AXQ Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth about $1,421,000. Eubel Brady & Suttman Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Eubel Brady & Suttman Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,652 shares of the company’s stock worth $479,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 42.1% during the 3rd quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,025,000 after acquiring an additional 5,795 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK stock traded down $6.02 during trading on Friday, reaching $123.80. 57,055,458 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,215,418. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month 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. The company has a market capitalization of $313.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 137.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $129.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $124.27.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 342.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective 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. Berenberg Bank raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.