Stone Point Wealth LLC Has $3.88 Million Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

by · The Cerbat Gem

Stone Point Wealth LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Free Report) by 2.9% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 29,422 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 840 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up 1.3% of Stone Point Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Stone Point Wealth LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,882,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. StoneX Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.1% during the first quarter. StoneX Group Inc. now owns 34,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,543,000 after purchasing an additional 3,976 shares during the period. Schear Investment Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 105.4% during the first quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 6,640 shares of the company’s stock worth $876,000 after purchasing an additional 3,407 shares during the period. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 21.7% during the first quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,782 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,033,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% during the first quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,385,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. Finally, Peterson Wealth Services lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% during the first quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 19,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,523,000 after purchasing an additional 706 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.5 %

MRK traded up $0.60 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $126.45. The company had a trading volume of 6,786,713 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,857,639. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company has a market capitalization of $320.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 140.50, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.38. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $129.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.99.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 342.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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 report on Wednesday, March 27th. Berenberg Bank lifted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

View Our Latest Research Report on Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

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