Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Has $33.14 Million Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 249,892 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,302 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for about 1.1% of Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $33,144,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cross Staff Investments Inc increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 6,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $732,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth approximately $212,000. Kennedy Investment Group grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 2,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $352,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Societe Generale lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK opened at $130.72 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $128.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $123.49. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $133.10. The company has a market cap of $331.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.24, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

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.