Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC Boosts Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,281 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 452 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,417,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bfsg LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 31,762 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,607,000 after purchasing an additional 923 shares during the period. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 42.2% during the third quarter. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC now owns 60,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,850,000 after buying an additional 17,913 shares during the period. Curran Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.9% in the third quarter. Curran Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $236,000 after buying an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% during the third quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,397,000 after buying an additional 755 shares during the period. Finally, Kaydan Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter valued at $330,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $110.43 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $114.51 and a 200 day moving average of $122.69. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $279.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($2.06) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.