Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Has $647,000 Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 12.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,905 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 539 shares during the period. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $647,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cross Staff Investments Inc grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 6,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $732,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth approximately $212,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 77,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,270,000 after acquiring an additional 4,433 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Investment Group raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 2,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the period. Finally, Schear Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $352,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.3 %

NYSE:MRK opened at $129.79 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year 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 has a market cap of $328.73 billion, a PE ratio of 144.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $129.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $123.96.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 342.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the topic of several research reports. 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. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. TheStreet cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.