Sax Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Position in Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Sax Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 76.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 29,338 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,712 shares during the period. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,462,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Ascent Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 114.4% in the third quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 35,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,964,000 after purchasing an additional 18,843 shares during the period. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.4% during the third quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 14,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,220,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the period. Baron Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.5% in the third quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,055 shares of the company’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 519 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 42.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,324 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,370,000 after buying an additional 4,830 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 207,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,444,000 after buying an additional 18,187 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $92.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Bank of America increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $110.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP David Michael Williams sold 8,614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.59, for a total transaction of $720,044.26. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 24,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,054,475.02. The trade was a 25.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $106.07 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $96.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 1.66. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $73.31 and a 1 year high of $107.59. The company has a market capitalization of $263.27 billion, a PE ratio of 14.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.29.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The company reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 44.54% and a net margin of 29.63%. On average, research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 44.91%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a global biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal health products. Its portfolio spans multiple therapeutic areas with a particular emphasis on oncology, vaccines and infectious disease, as well as therapies for metabolic and chronic conditions. Among its well-known products are the cancer immunotherapy Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and the human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil; the company also markets a range of medicines and vaccines for veterinary use through Merck Animal Health.

Founded in the late 19th century as the U.S.