Jeppson Wealth Management LLC Has $3.15 Million Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Jeppson Wealth Management LLC cut its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 23,855 shares of the company’s stock after selling 177 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises about 1.2% of Jeppson Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,148,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 3,153,333 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in 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 worth $3,966,029,000 after buying an additional 4,731,152 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $3,108,366,000. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.8% in 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 grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% in the 4th 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 period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of MRK stock traded down $6.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $123.80. 57,055,458 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,215,418. The stock has a market cap of $313.56 billion, a PE ratio of 137.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.39. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $129.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $124.27. 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 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its 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. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. On average, sell-side 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 $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.49%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 342.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Berenberg Bank raised their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of 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 downgraded shares of 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. Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, TheStreet cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. One 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average 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.