Hemenway Trust Co LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Hemenway Trust Co LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,223 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 394 shares during the period. Hemenway Trust Co LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,217,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock traded up $0.51 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $129.48. 551,279 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,356,726. The company has a market cap of $327.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 143.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.38. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $128.97 and its 200 day moving average is $125.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The business 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 quarter last year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th were given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 342.22%.

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.