Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,098 shares of the company’s stock after selling 288 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,402,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth $32,000. AM Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MRK. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Guggenheim lowered their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $110.00 target price (down from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target 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. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock opened at $98.00 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $94.48 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $247.91 billion, a PE ratio of 20.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.85.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 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.