Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stock Position Decreased by HCR Wealth Advisors

HCR Wealth Advisors decreased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,696 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,393 shares during the quarter. HCR Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,959,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Sendero Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Sendero Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,086 shares of the company’s stock valued at $506,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares during the period. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 9,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $978,000 after buying an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 186,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,504,000 after acquiring an additional 9,571 shares during the period. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 26,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,670,000 after acquiring an additional 2,025 shares during the period. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 40.8% in the 4th quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 15,978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,590,000 after acquiring an additional 4,633 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on MRK shares. 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. HSBC raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Daiwa America lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. One investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $100.20 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $110.19. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $253.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.01, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its 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. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

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.