MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. Boosts Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 13.8% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 44,821 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,426 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for about 2.4% of MOKAN Wealth Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,023,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MRK. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 83.7% during the 4th quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 316 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 price target (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.3%

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $80.38 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.41. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $73.31 and a one year high of $134.63. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 43.23% and a net margin of 27.27%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.07 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.03%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total transaction of $352,723.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,778 shares in the company, valued at $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.