Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Bought by NorthRock Partners LLC

NorthRock Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 27.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 31,495 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,855 shares during the quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,156,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,108,366,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,966,029,000 after acquiring an additional 4,731,152 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 85,595,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,331,676,000 after acquiring an additional 3,153,333 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 352.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 3,144,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $342,814,000 after acquiring an additional 2,449,211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29,914.1% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 2,410,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,818,000 after acquiring an additional 2,402,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MRK shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Berenberg Bank upped 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 report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $135.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of MRK stock traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $128.12. 6,331,942 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,389,916. The business’s fifty day moving average is $128.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $125.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $324.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 142.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

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.