Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC Lowers Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 31,661 shares of the company’s stock after selling 771 shares during the quarter. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,178,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% during the fourth 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% during the fourth 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. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,108,366,000. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,972,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,632,255,000 after acquiring an additional 1,696,151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,566,968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,479,071,000 after acquiring an additional 228,578 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $6.02 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $123.80. The company had a trading volume of 57,055,458 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,215,418. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $134.63. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $129.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $124.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $313.56 billion, a PE ratio of 137.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.39.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 342.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Truist Financial increased their price target on 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 increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Finally, Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. 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. Company 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.