Wesbanco Bank Inc. Has $36.65 Million Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 368,419 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,855 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for 1.3% of Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $36,650,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 33.8% during the 2nd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 93,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,550,000 after acquiring an additional 23,589 shares during the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 1,050,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,357,000 after buying an additional 35,627 shares during the last quarter. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $241,000. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.3% in the 2nd quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 7,806 shares of the company’s stock valued at $966,000 after buying an additional 1,262 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective (down previously from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Guggenheim cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Daiwa America cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $123.00 to $113.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.9 %

MRK stock opened at $96.57 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $244.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.24, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $94.48 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $99.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.11.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 67.92%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.