Asset Allocation & Management Company LLC Makes New $523,000 Investment in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Asset Allocation & Management Company LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $523,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 58.7% during the 4th quarter. JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd now owns 3,729 shares of the company’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 1,380 shares during the period. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 853,754 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,931,000 after acquiring an additional 38,405 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 320,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,891,000 after acquiring an additional 2,882 shares during the period. City State Bank boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. City State Bank now owns 14,327 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after acquiring an additional 2,331 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 79,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,862,000 after acquiring an additional 5,466 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $110.00 target price (down from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $121.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $136.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $1.56 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $100.81. 2,519,548 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,930,677. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $94.48 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The company has a market capitalization of $255.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $100.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $110.57.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.92%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.