Sculati Wealth Management LLC Acquires 419 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Sculati Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,259 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up approximately 1.2% of Sculati Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Sculati Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,868,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter worth $511,000. ERn Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.6% in the second quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 2,571 shares of the company’s stock valued at $318,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth about $792,000. Silver Lake Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at about $772,000. Finally, Triad Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 26.8% during the 2nd quarter. Triad Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 548 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.20.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $99.77 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $103.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $115.25. The company has a market capitalization of $252.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $94.48 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. Research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.57%.

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.