BluePath Capital Management LLC Purchases 940 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

BluePath Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 21.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,401 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 940 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises about 0.5% of BluePath Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. BluePath Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $713,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kennedy Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 12,573 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after acquiring an additional 1,795 shares during the last quarter. Jackson Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Jackson Wealth Management LLC now owns 46,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,756,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Shakespeare Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at about $268,000. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at about $11,909,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,517,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,229,000 after acquiring an additional 10,763 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of MRK stock traded down $1.87 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $125.85. 4,002,052 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,506,954. 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 firm has a market cap of $318.75 billion, a PE ratio of 139.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s 50 day moving average is $129.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.70. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MRK. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.