Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC Purchases 280 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,112 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the quarter. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,070,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cross Staff Investments Inc increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 6,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $732,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Investment Group grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 2,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $352,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 12,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,338,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Constitution Capital LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Constitution Capital LLC now owns 3,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $392,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $130.72 on Friday. 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 one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $133.10. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $128.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $123.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $331.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 145.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Societe Generale downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Berenberg Bank raised their price objective 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 research note on Wednesday, June 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.