Hemenway Trust Co LLC Acquires 394 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Hemenway Trust Co LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,223 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,217,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Stonegate Investment Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 24,915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,288,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 26,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,893,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 5,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $549,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $288,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hendershot Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Hendershot Investments Inc. now owns 15,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,079,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Berenberg Bank boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded up $0.51 during trading on Friday, hitting $129.48. 551,279 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,356,726. The stock has a market cap of $327.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 143.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $128.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $125.43. 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 posted 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 business 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th were paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 342.22%.

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.