Northwest Investment Counselors LLC Has $1.28 Million Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Northwest Investment Counselors LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,716 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,282,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Cross Staff Investments Inc boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 6,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $732,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth approximately $212,000. Kennedy Investment Group raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 2,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC lifted 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC grew its position 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. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. 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 report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $132.98 on Tuesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $133.31. The company has a market capitalization of $336.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 147.76, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $128.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $123.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter in the previous 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, sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share 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 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 payout ratio is 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.