First Pacific Financial Acquires 202 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

First Pacific Financial boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,260 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the quarter. First Pacific Financial’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,165,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 77,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,270,000 after acquiring an additional 4,433 shares in the last quarter. Patron Partners LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 10,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,396,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 30,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,898,000 after acquiring an additional 2,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 247,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,636,000 after buying an additional 22,578 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted 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 note on Thursday, July 11th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock traded up $1.85 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $111.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,108,890 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,767,140. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $282.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 123.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s fifty day moving average is $114.54 and its 200-day moving average is $122.92.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.06) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.