Curran Financial Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Curran Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 180.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 311 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,500.0% during the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 416 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Societe Generale cut 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 report on Monday, March 11th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of 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 issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK stock traded down $0.32 on Thursday, reaching $125.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,285,997 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,251,719. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $114.76. The company has a market capitalization of $316.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 891.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.49 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 0.61% and a return on equity of 9.33%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.62 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 2,200.00%.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.