Romano Brothers AND Company Has $4.10 Million Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Romano Brothers AND Company lessened its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,078 shares of the company’s stock after selling 294 shares during the period. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,101,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on MRK shares. Berenberg Bank increased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK traded down $6.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $123.80. The stock had a trading volume of 57,055,458 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,215,418. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $129.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $124.27. The stock has a market cap of $313.56 billion, a PE ratio of 137.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.49%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 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.