Strong Tower Advisory Services Has $908,000 Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Strong Tower Advisory Services lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,325 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 562 shares during the quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services’ holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $908,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 103,159.7% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 39,327,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,363,385,000 after purchasing an additional 39,289,404 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,736,293,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $8,487,472,000 after buying an additional 5,196,914 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,671.4% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,099,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $418,400,000 after acquiring an additional 4,915,334 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 184.5% during the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,254,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $837,144,000 after purchasing an additional 4,705,004 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the topic of several research reports. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $142.00 price objective (up from $139.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target 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. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.71.

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

In related news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $0.17 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $131.92. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,188,693 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,807,398. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $124.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $112.52. The stock has a market cap of $334.11 billion, a PE ratio of 942.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.37. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $133.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.