Compton Wealth Advisory Group LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Compton Wealth Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,110 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Compton Wealth Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,126,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MRK. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Berenberg Bank boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Societe Generale downgraded 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $131.59 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $128.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $123.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company has a market capitalization of $333.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. Research analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.