Ellsworth Advisors LLC Has $6.18 Million Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 17.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,674 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,235 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises approximately 2.0% of Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $6,179,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 94.2% during the first quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P now owns 349,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,683,000 after purchasing an additional 169,536 shares during the last quarter. BCK Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth $2,423,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.3% during the first 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 last quarter. First Western Trust Bank purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at $1,078,000. Finally, Equitable Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.9% during the first quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. now owns 36,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,964,000 after buying an additional 4,131 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were 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 directly 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 owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $142.00 price target (up previously from $139.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.71.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $0.17 on Thursday, reaching $131.92. 10,188,693 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,807,398. 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. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $133.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $334.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 942.86, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $124.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $112.52.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The company had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.62 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 2,200.00%.

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.