Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 34.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,599 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,989 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up approximately 0.9% of Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,137,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 94.2% in the first quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P now owns 349,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,683,000 after buying an additional 169,536 shares during the last quarter. BCK Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter worth about $2,423,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 159,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,064,000 after purchasing an additional 9,376 shares during the period. First Western Trust Bank acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter worth about $1,078,000. Finally, Equitable Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.9% in the 1st quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. now owns 36,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,964,000 after purchasing an additional 4,131 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MRK. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $142.00 price target (up previously from $139.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, March 28th. TD Cowen raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday. Barclays raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Societe Generale cut 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK stock traded up $0.01 during trading on Friday, hitting $125.24. The company had a trading volume of 1,795,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,227,634. The firm has a market cap of $317.24 billion, a PE ratio of 894.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $133.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $126.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $114.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.49 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 2,200.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.