Hollow Brook Wealth Management LLC Acquires 174 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Hollow Brook Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,704 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 174 shares during the quarter. Hollow Brook Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 39.8% during the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 35,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,717,000 after purchasing an additional 10,179 shares during the last quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC now owns 11,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC now owns 6,461 shares of the company’s stock worth $800,000 after buying an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 32.3% in the 2nd quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 49,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,178,000 after buying an additional 12,188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Somerset Trust Co boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Somerset Trust Co now owns 6,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $795,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MRK. Truist Financial cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $101.71 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $257.29 billion, a PE ratio of 21.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $94.48 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $105.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $116.77.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.57%.

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.