Everett Harris & Co. CA Acquires 8,398 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Everett Harris & Co. CA lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 175,489 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,398 shares during the period. Everett Harris & Co. CA’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $19,132,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 180.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 108.1% in the third quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Finally, VitalStone Financial LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter worth about $56,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. TD Cowen raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Societe Generale lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $122.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.50.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE:MRK traded up $6.23 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $131.75. 15,841,390 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,783,678. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $133.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.25. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $124.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $112.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $333.68 billion, a PE ratio of 941.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. The company had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.49 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 0.61% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.62 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2,200.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.