Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Has $2.63 Million Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,914 shares of the company’s stock after selling 120 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,628,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $732,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Camelot Portfolios LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $205,000. Leavell Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 45,735 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,019,000 after purchasing an additional 2,749 shares in the last quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $220,000. Finally, Crown Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $472,000 after acquiring an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on MRK. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock traded up $1.38 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $115.20. The company had a trading volume of 16,562,288 shares, 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. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The company has a market capitalization of $291.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 128.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $126.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $126.50.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.67%. 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.