Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Bought by Atomi Financial Group Inc.

Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 11.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,517 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,499 shares during the period. Atomi Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,434,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. now owns 8,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $798,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002 shares during the last quarter. Transform Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Transform Wealth LLC now owns 35,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,578,000 after purchasing an additional 3,039 shares in the last quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,722,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 39.1% in the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 585,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,235,000 after purchasing an additional 164,506 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Trust Co now owns 11,814 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,175,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective (down from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Guggenheim lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Daiwa America lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $123.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $96.18 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $94.48 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $243.30 billion, a PE ratio of 20.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $99.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $109.42.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.81 dividend. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

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.