Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Free Report) by 7.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 93,816 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,190 shares during the quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $12,379,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hoey Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.0% during the first quarter. Hoey Investments Inc. now owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,244,000 after buying an additional 1,112 shares during the period. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 14,502 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,838,000 after acquiring an additional 923 shares during the period. Towercrest Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.6% in the first quarter. Towercrest Capital Management now owns 9,370 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,236,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares in the last quarter. First Foundation Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.2% during the first quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 15,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,043,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares during the period. Finally, Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.5% during the first quarter. Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC now owns 31,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,129,000 after purchasing an additional 3,968 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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 research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $135.36.
Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.2 %
NYSE MRK traded up $1.52 on Friday, hitting $125.77. 6,848,758 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,046,289. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $128.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $126.34. The company has a market capitalization of $318.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 139.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99.
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Free Report) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm 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 8.6 EPS for the current year.
Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.