Cypress Wealth Services LLC Acquires 1,255 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Cypress Wealth Services LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 58.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,398 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,255 shares during the quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $448,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. NTV Asset Management LLC boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $288,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,089,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Holdings LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC now owns 12,229 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,333,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. 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 research report on Monday, April 8th. 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 research report on Wednesday, March 27th. 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 research report on Friday, April 26th. Societe Generale downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of MRK traded down $1.71 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $129.79. 11,923,877 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,147,509. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $328.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 144.21, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.39. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $129.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $123.96.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 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.