Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stock Holdings Increased by Scissortail Wealth Management LLC

Scissortail Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 86.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 63,294 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 29,304 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up about 2.2% of Scissortail Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $6,900,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kennedy Investment Group grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 2,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Constitution Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Constitution Capital LLC now owns 3,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $392,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $599,000. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.0% during the third quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 57,526 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,922,000 after purchasing an additional 15,529 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Friday, April 5th. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. TD Cowen raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Berenberg Bank increased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $1.13 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $125.06. The company had a trading volume of 5,587,332 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,405,260. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $133.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $316.78 billion, a PE ratio of 893.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.38. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $126.24 and its 200-day moving average is $114.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.49 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 0.61% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.62 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 2,200.00%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

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.