OneAscent Wealth Management LLC Acquires Shares of 2,601 Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

OneAscent Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $345,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,108,366,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,487,472,000 after acquiring an additional 5,196,914 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,966,029,000 after acquiring an additional 4,731,152 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 352.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 3,144,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $342,814,000 after acquiring an additional 2,449,211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 29,914.1% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 2,410,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,818,000 after buying an additional 2,402,700 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Societe Generale downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 11th. Berenberg Bank increased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. One equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $123.80 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $129.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $124.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $313.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 137.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s 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.