Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New $92,000 Investment in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,108,366,000. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,972,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,632,255,000 after buying an additional 1,696,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 228,578 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Berenberg Bank boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Societe Generale cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock traded down $1.87 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $125.85. 4,002,052 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,506,954. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $318.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 139.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.38. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $129.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $124.70. 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. (NYSE:MRK) last issued 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. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.45%. 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.