Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC Has $1.06 Million Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC decreased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,625 shares of the company’s stock after selling 523 shares during the quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,057,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pure Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 22,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,247,000 after purchasing an additional 1,517 shares during the period. Tudor Financial Inc. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. now owns 4,473 shares of the company’s stock worth $445,000 after buying an additional 715 shares during the period. New Hampshire Trust increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 49,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,912,000 after buying an additional 834 shares during the period. Hoese & Co LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.0% during the fourth quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 1,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,000 after buying an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sky Investment Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 81,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,102,000 after acquiring an additional 1,514 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 2.7 %

MRK stock opened at $98.00 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $100.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $109.61. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $94.48 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $247.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 67.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on MRK. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $110.00 target price (down from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $123.67.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.