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

First Pacific Financial lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund 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 reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at about $212,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% in the first quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 77,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,270,000 after purchasing an additional 4,433 shares during the last quarter. Patron Partners LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% in the first quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 10,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,396,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.9% in the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 30,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,898,000 after purchasing an additional 2,525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.0% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 247,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,636,000 after purchasing an additional 22,578 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE:MRK traded up $1.85 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $111.54. 9,108,890 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,767,140. 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 $282.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 123.92, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $114.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $122.92.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on 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. Barclays decreased their target price 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. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus 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.