Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 312 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.3% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 7,632 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $951,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Next Level Private LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% during the second quarter. Next Level Private LLC now owns 25,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,200,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the period. Privium Fund Management UK Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter valued at about $3,074,000. Naviter Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.1% during the second quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 21,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,642,000 after buying an additional 1,020 shares during the last quarter. LMG Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% during the second quarter. LMG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 21,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,648,000 after acquiring an additional 434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,000,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $1.50 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $116.95. 2,396,563 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,576,792. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $120.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $125.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $296.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 131.61, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The company 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 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($2.06) EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 342.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MRK shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.58.

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.