Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC Purchases New Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AHL Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at about $232,000. Brookstone Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 64,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,508,000 after acquiring an additional 4,296 shares in the last quarter. Benin Management CORP lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Benin Management CORP now owns 4,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 22.2% in the 1st quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 26,210 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,458,000 after purchasing an additional 4,754 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% during the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 53,495 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,059,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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 note on Wednesday, March 27th. Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Berenberg Bank lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. 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 note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $129.79 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $328.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 144.21, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $134.63. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $129.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $123.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The business’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. 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.