Eads & Heald Wealth Management Grows Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 11th, 2023

Eads & Heald Wealth Management increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Rating) by 9.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,482 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 405 shares during the quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $497,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 41.5% during the fourth quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 317 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Mcrae Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Mcrae Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,057,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advantage Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advantage Inc. now owns 14,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,592,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,251 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,227,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Finally, O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. now owns 3,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $428,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 72.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MRK shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $120.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Monday, March 13th. Barclays increased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $110.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 20th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $106.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $116.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 9th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $119.35.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK opened at $112.61 on Tuesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $83.05 and a 12-month high of $115.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $107.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $104.72. The company has a market cap of $285.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.34.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 43.47% and a net margin of 24.49%. The firm had revenue of $13.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.80 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th were given a $0.73 dividend. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.14%.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.00, for a total transaction of $535,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 34,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,734,300. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 16,251 shares of company stock worth $1,736,570. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.