MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. Makes New $48,000 Investment in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 536 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. New Republic Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.8% during the first quarter. New Republic Capital LLC now owns 5,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $483,000 after buying an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. Schubert & Co grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 23.3% during the first quarter. Schubert & Co now owns 3,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $315,000 after buying an additional 662 shares during the last quarter. Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.0% during the first quarter. Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.3% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 32,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,894,000 after buying an additional 2,751 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inlet Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 27.5% during the first quarter. Inlet Private Wealth LLC now owns 67,520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,061,000 after buying an additional 14,553 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock opened at $84.82 on Monday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $73.31 and a 12 month high of $128.73. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $80.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.10. The stock has a market cap of $212.98 billion, a PE ratio of 12.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.16%.

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.