Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC Increases Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,083 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cross Staff Investments Inc raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 6,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $732,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% during the first quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 77,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,270,000 after purchasing an additional 4,433 shares during the period. Kennedy Investment Group raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 2,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the period. Finally, Schear Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $352,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Barclays reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE MRK traded up $1.38 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $115.20. 16,562,288 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,345,653. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $291.78 billion, a PE ratio of 128.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $126.50. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.67% and a net margin of 21.99%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($2.06) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 342.22%.

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.