Stokes Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 6,360 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Stokes Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 19.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 39,206 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,360 shares during the quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,854,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at about $66,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 157.8% during the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 17,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,894,000 after acquiring an additional 10,658 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Wealth Services boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 64.7% in the fourth quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 18,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,008,000 after buying an additional 7,232 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Curran Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth $227,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:MRK traded up $0.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $113.67. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,102,341 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,717,050. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $123.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $126.09. 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 stock has a market cap of $287.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 126.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.67% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned ($2.06) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. 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.