NorthRock Partners LLC Acquires 6,855 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 27.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 31,495 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,855 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,156,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth $3,108,366,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,966,029,000 after acquiring an additional 4,731,152 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 85,595,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,331,676,000 after acquiring an additional 3,153,333 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 352.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 3,144,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $342,814,000 after acquiring an additional 2,449,211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 29,914.1% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 2,410,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,818,000 after acquiring an additional 2,402,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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 research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Truist Financial raised their target price 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. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $135.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.3 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $128.12. The stock had a trading volume of 6,331,942 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,389,916. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $324.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 142.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $128.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $125.82.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th were paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.40%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio 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.