Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 2,096 Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $277,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Algert Global LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter worth about $454,000. Mather Group LLC. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.8% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 26,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,433 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 86,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,938,000 after purchasing an additional 5,421 shares during the period. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 63.2% during the third quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 4,778 shares of the company’s stock worth $492,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 211.0% during the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 118,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,223,000 after purchasing an additional 80,547 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.3 %

MRK opened at $129.79 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company’s 50-day moving average is $129.27 and its 200 day moving average is $123.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $328.73 billion, a PE ratio of 144.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.39.

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 net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MRK shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of 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. Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Truist Financial boosted 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 report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.00.

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.