Blue Barn Wealth LLC Grows Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Blue Barn Wealth LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,838 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Blue Barn Wealth LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Aveo Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $710,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the period. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 85.5% in the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 13,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,436,000 after buying an additional 6,421 shares in the last quarter. Advantage Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at about $76,000. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,334,000. Finally, Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $623,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of MRK stock opened at $120.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $120.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $125.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $304.04 billion, a PE ratio of 131.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($2.06) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.57%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.