420 Shares in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Acquired by Accent Capital Management LLC

Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at $3,108,366,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,487,472,000 after purchasing an additional 5,196,914 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,966,029,000 after purchasing an additional 4,731,152 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 352.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 3,144,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $342,814,000 after purchasing an additional 2,449,211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 29,914.1% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 2,410,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,818,000 after purchasing an additional 2,402,700 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $127.99 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $324.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 142.21, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $128.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $122.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MRK. TheStreet cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday. Berenberg Bank increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

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.