Traynor Capital Management Inc. Boosts Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Traynor Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,470 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 207 shares during the quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth $454,000. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.6% in the third quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp now owns 4,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $458,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Pegasus Partners Ltd. purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter valued at about $200,000. Operose Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 537.4% in the third quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 2,403 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 2,026 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 147.4% in the third quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 128,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,203,000 after purchasing an additional 76,405 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of several research reports. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Societe Generale cut 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. Berenberg Bank increased their price target 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. Finally, Argus upgraded 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 given 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.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $132.98 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $128.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price 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. The firm has a market cap of $336.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 147.76, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $133.31.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued 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 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 quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 342.22%.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.