Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. Lowers Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 21.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 9,407 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,509 shares during the period. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $942,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. XML Financial LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 68,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,773,000 after acquiring an additional 5,506 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 861,944 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,446,000 after purchasing an additional 52,070 shares during the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 14,924 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,485,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares in the last quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC now owns 42,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,252,000 after buying an additional 3,299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 22,921 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,280,000 after buying an additional 995 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the topic of several research reports. HSBC raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim lowered their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective (down previously from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of MRK opened at $95.72 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $99.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $109.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $242.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.07, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $94.48 and a 1-year high of $134.63.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.38%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.