Acima Private Wealth LLC Has $594,000 Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Acima Private Wealth LLC lessened its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,445 shares of the company’s stock after selling 448 shares during the quarter. Acima Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $594,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Abel Hall LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $546,000. Counterweight Ventures LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $2,268,000. Syon Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 27,601 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,009,000 after purchasing an additional 3,944 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 48,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,285,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sierra Summit Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $626,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Societe Generale cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, March 11th. TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $129.48. The company had a trading volume of 7,338,462 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,353,206. The firm has a market cap of $327.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 143.87, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a fifty day moving average of $128.61 and a 200-day moving average of $122.34. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $133.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 342.22%.

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.