D.B. Root & Company LLC Makes New Investment in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

D.B. Root & Company LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $260,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter valued at about $454,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 77.2% in the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 51,757 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,328,000 after acquiring an additional 22,546 shares during the last quarter. AXQ Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,421,000. Eubel Brady & Suttman Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Eubel Brady & Suttman Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,652 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Advisors LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 42.1% in the third quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,025,000 after purchasing an additional 5,795 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 4.6 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $6.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $123.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 57,055,458 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,215,418. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $129.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $124.27. The company has a market cap of $313.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 137.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. 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 earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.40 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on MRK. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Berenberg Bank lifted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.00.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.