Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 1,795 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 8.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,097 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,795 shares during the period. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,518,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 180.2% in the third quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 108.1% during the 3rd quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 464 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Finally, VitalStone Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter valued at $56,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on MRK shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Societe Generale downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, March 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.14.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK traded up $0.23 on Tuesday, reaching $125.54. The company had a trading volume of 8,811,254 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,657,022. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $130.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a fifty day moving average of $124.07 and a 200-day moving average of $112.27. The company has a market capitalization of $317.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 896.71, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 0.61% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The company had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2,200.00%.

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

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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 under the Keytruda, Bridion, Adempas, Lagevrio, Belsomra, Simponi, and Januvia brands, as well as vaccine products consisting of preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines under the Gardasil/Gardasil 9, ProQuad, M-M-R II, Varivax, RotaTeq, Live Oral, Vaxneuvance, Pneumovax 23, and Vaqta names.