McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. Increases Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,260 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,414,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 89,794 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,197,000 after buying an additional 14,744 shares in the last quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC now owns 22,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,475,000 after buying an additional 1,267 shares in the last quarter. Safeguard Financial LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Safeguard Financial LLC now owns 2,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $271,000 after buying an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 28,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,040,000 after buying an additional 986 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Griffin Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 110,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,584,000 after acquiring an additional 1,243 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of MRK stock traded down $1.44 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $110.09. 1,168,535 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,729,156. 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 one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $134.63. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $114.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $122.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $278.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 123.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($2.06) earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 342.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.