Aspiriant LLC Purchases 755 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Aspiriant LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,181 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 755 shares during the quarter. Aspiriant LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,531,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. G&S Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth about $1,359,000. Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth about $277,000. Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 32.5% during the first quarter. Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 8,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,148,000 after buying an additional 2,135 shares during the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.3% in the first quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 11,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,538,000 after buying an additional 590 shares during the period. Finally, Sunpointe LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.8% in the first quarter. Sunpointe LLC now owns 4,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $602,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 11th. 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 report on Wednesday, March 27th. Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Berenberg Bank upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $129.79 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market cap of $328.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 144.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $129.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $123.96.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.40 EPS. Analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. 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.