BigSur Wealth Management LLC Grows Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

BigSur Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 38,118 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,450 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up 1.5% of BigSur Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. BigSur Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,748,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Cidel Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,259,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Sunpointe LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the second quarter. Sunpointe LLC now owns 4,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $587,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the second quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 49,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,146,000 after acquiring an additional 1,822 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% during the second quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 69,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,578,000 after purchasing an additional 2,749 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gerber LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Gerber LLC now owns 3,204 shares of the company’s stock worth $397,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of MRK traded up $0.72 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $115.14. The stock had a trading volume of 5,249,981 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,679,515. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market cap of $291.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 127.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.38. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $123.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $126.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.67% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($2.06) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 342.22%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.