CAP Partners LLC Purchases 106 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

CAP Partners LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,292 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. CAP Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $302,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MRK. NTV Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% during 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 during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% during 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 during the last quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,089,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC now owns 12,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.1 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $127.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,644,609 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,542,705. The firm has a market capitalization of $323.49 billion, a PE ratio of 141.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $129.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.55.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.