Castle Wealth Management LLC Grows Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Castle Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,677 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. Castle Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $404,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 103,159.7% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 39,327,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,363,385,000 after buying an additional 39,289,404 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at $2,736,293,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,487,472,000 after buying an additional 5,196,914 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,671.4% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,099,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $418,400,000 after buying an additional 4,915,334 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 184.5% during the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,254,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $837,144,000 after buying an additional 4,705,004 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE MRK traded up $0.55 during trading on Friday, hitting $125.78. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,377,080 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,316,745. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $318.60 billion, a PE ratio of 898.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.38. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $126.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $115.00. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. The business had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.49 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.62 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2,200.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Berenberg Bank raised their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. TD Cowen raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. TheStreet downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.