Arkadios Wealth Advisors Acquires 8,909 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Key Points

• Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 24.3% in Q1, acquiring an additional 8,909 shares, bringing its total holdings to 45,500 shares valued at approximately $4.08 million.
• Multiple institutional investors also expanded their investments in Merck, with notable increases by Simplicity Wealth LLC (991.7%) and China Universal Asset Management (13.8%) during the same period.
• Merck will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share on October 7th, representing an annualized yield of 3.96%, with 76.07% of its stock owned by institutional investors.

Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 24.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,500 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 8,909 shares during the quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors' holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,084,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,240.9% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,286,801 shares of the company's stock valued at $474,543,000 after acquiring an additional 5,060,959 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 31,377,107 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,121,395,000 after acquiring an additional 4,511,742 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 63.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,577,535 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,151,642,000 after acquiring an additional 4,480,007 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9,991.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,332,446 shares of the company's stock valued at $388,880,000 after acquiring an additional 4,289,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 21,547,758 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,143,571,000 after acquiring an additional 3,791,737 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $1.15 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $79.27. The company had a trading volume of 11,898,764 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,513,969. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $73.31 and a one year high of $120.30. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market cap of $199.05 billion, a PE ratio of 12.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.63% and a net margin of 25.79%. The firm had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.92 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $107.44.

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.