RHS Financial LLC Makes New $202,000 Investment in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

RHS Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Skyline Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.6% in the first quarter. Skyline Advisors Inc. now owns 2,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 69.6% in the first quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 40,118 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,294,000 after purchasing an additional 16,466 shares during the last quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.8% during the first quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 6,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $863,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. LVW Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.3% during the 1st quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 6,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $853,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,019,000 after purchasing an additional 831 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. 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. Berenberg Bank lifted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Societe Generale lowered 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 research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $127.90 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $129.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.39. The company has a market capitalization of $323.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 142.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.38. 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company 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 quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.