Valley Wealth Managers Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Valley Wealth Managers Inc. reduced its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,302 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,627 shares during the period. Valley Wealth Managers Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,846,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 85,595,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,331,676,000 after purchasing an additional 3,153,333 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,966,029,000 after acquiring an additional 4,731,152 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at $3,108,366,000. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,972,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,632,255,000 after acquiring an additional 1,696,151 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,566,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,479,071,000 after purchasing an additional 228,578 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MRK. Truist Financial increased their price objective 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. Berenberg Bank boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. 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 report on Wednesday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE MRK traded up $1.01 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $128.31. 3,452,128 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,388,585. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $128.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $125.40. 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 company has a market cap of $324.98 billion, a PE ratio of 141.91, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The business 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th were given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s 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.