Wolff Wiese Magana LLC Purchases 10,405 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2,114.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,897 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,405 shares during the period. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,108,366,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,487,472,000 after buying an additional 5,196,914 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,682,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,966,029,000 after buying an additional 4,731,152 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 352.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 3,144,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $342,814,000 after buying an additional 2,449,211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 29,914.1% in 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. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK opened at $127.90 on Tuesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The company has a market cap of $323.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 142.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.38. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $129.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $124.39. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The company’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 fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 342.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Berenberg Bank boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.