Tempus Wealth Planning LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Tempus Wealth Planning LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,953 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $534,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FSB Premier Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. FSB Premier Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA now owns 5,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $481,000 after buying an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Tilson Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Tilson Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,965 shares of the company’s stock valued at $446,000 after buying an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 6,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $540,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forza Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,761 shares of the company’s stock valued at $966,000 after buying an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MRK. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 target price (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of MRK opened at $84.82 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.31 and a 52 week high of $128.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $212.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.35, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $80.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $85.30.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 43.23% and a net margin of 27.27%. The company had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.07 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.82%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 47.16%.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.