2,089 Shares in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Purchased by Fairman Group LLC

Fairman Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Truist Financial boosted 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 note on Friday, April 26th. Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Societe Generale cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $127.99 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $133.10. The business has a 50 day moving average of $128.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.99. The company has a market capitalization of $324.17 billion, a PE ratio of 142.21, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date is 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.