BKM Wealth Management LLC Acquires 915 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

BKM Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 28.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,119 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 915 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $544,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Algert Global LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter valued at approximately $454,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 77.2% during the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 51,757 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,328,000 after buying an additional 22,546 shares during the last quarter. AXQ Capital LP bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,421,000. Eubel Brady & Suttman Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% during the third quarter. Eubel Brady & Suttman Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,652 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 42.1% during the third quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,025,000 after buying an additional 5,795 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Berenberg Bank increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Truist Financial raised their price objective 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, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $127.90 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $129.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.39. 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 market cap of $323.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 142.11, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.41%. 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.