Morse Asset Management Inc Increases Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Morse Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 40.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 34,443 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,909 shares during the quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at about $562,000. Good Life Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 13,426 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,464,000 after purchasing an additional 1,993 shares during the last quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 8,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $908,000 after purchasing an additional 562 shares during the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $608,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Saxon Interests Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth about $1,449,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $135.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.5 %

MRK stock traded down $0.59 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $125.26. 6,467,036 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,859,123. The company has a market capitalization of $317.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 139.18, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $128.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $126.61.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 342.22%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.