Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,905 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the period. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,601,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth $42,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.3% in the first quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1,475.6% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 35,057 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 32,832 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK opened at $109.69 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $277.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 121.88, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50-day moving average of $114.54 and a 200-day moving average of $122.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced 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. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($2.06) earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.