Capital Advantage Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 3rd, 2023

Capital Advantage Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Rating) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,353 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up approximately 0.4% of Capital Advantage Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Capital Advantage Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,592,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 41.5% in the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Mach 1 Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 72.89% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 1,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.10, for a total transaction of $198,016.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,609,573.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 1,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.10, for a total transaction of $198,016.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,609,573.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.22, for a total value of $541,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 20,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,195,134.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 100,245 shares of company stock worth $11,168,256 over the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Atlantic Securities upped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $122.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 7th. StockNews.com started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. SVB Leerink upped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Friday, March 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $110.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $119.35.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $106.39 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market cap of $270.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.34. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $107.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $103.68. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $80.74 and a fifty-two week high of $115.49.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $13.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.66 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 43.47% and a net margin of 24.49%. The company’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.80 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 6.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be issued a $0.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.74%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.14%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

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Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.