Scharf Investments LLC Acquires 645 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Scharf Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,656 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 645 shares during the period. Scharf Investments LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,274,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MRK. Truist Financial raised 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. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Berenberg Bank lifted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. 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 research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of MRK traded down $1.71 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $129.79. The stock had a trading volume of 11,923,877 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,147,509. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $129.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $123.96. The company has a market cap of $328.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 144.21, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.39. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.