Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC Has $395,000 Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jul 12th, 2023

Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Free Report) by 23.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,710 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 714 shares during the period. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Kepos Capital LP bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Hanseatic Management Services Inc. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. 76.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Sanat Chattopadhyay sold 134,055 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.07, for a total value of $15,425,708.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Sanat Chattopadhyay sold 134,055 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.07, for a total value of $15,425,708.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert M. Davis sold 143,329 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.93, for a total value of $16,472,801.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 271,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,239,927.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 488,258 shares of company stock valued at $56,481,018. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $123.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 11th. Barclays upped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $128.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, May 1st. Citigroup upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. Finally, BTIG Research lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.83.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $108.70 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $275.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.35. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.52 and a 1 year high of $119.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $112.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $110.83.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $14.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.81 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 37.92% and a net margin of 22.52%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.14 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 6.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 15th were issued a $0.73 dividend. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.03%.

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, as well as vaccine products, such as preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines.