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

Buckley Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 63,523 shares of the company’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for 2.7% of Buckley Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Buckley Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $8,382,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MRK. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth $3,108,366,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,487,472,000 after acquiring an additional 5,196,914 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,966,029,000 after acquiring an additional 4,731,152 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 352.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 3,144,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $342,814,000 after acquiring an additional 2,449,211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29,914.1% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 2,410,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,818,000 after acquiring an additional 2,402,700 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Berenberg Bank upped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK traded down $1.71 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $129.79. The company had a trading volume of 11,923,877 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,147,509. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $328.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 144.21, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $129.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $123.96.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

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.