Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 22,640 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 207 shares during the quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,468,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 180.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,500.0% in the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 416 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE MRK traded up $0.66 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $125.89. The company had a trading volume of 3,227,922 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,247,245. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $133.10. The company has a market capitalization of $318.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 894.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $126.17 and its 200 day moving average is $114.84.

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 the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2,200.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Berenberg Bank upped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. TD Cowen raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.25.

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.