Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Bought by Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc.

Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 82.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,093 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 495 shares during the period. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $144,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MRK. Algert Global LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $454,000. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp now owns 4,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $458,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Pegasus Partners Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Operose Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 537.4% during the 3rd quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 2,403 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 2,026 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 147.4% during the 3rd quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 128,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,203,000 after buying an additional 76,405 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MRK. Truist Financial increased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. TheStreet downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on 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. Finally, Berenberg Bank increased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.7 %

MRK opened at $132.98 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $336.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 147.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $133.31. The business’s 50 day moving average is $128.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $123.70. 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. (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 for 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.