Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC Buys 8,068 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 234.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,513 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,068 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,385,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 254,322,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,770,014,000 after purchasing an additional 2,185,853 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 120,040,168 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,737,504,000 after purchasing an additional 1,859,990 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 86,435,458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,098,196,000 after purchasing an additional 11,156,354 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 60,047,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,307,572,000 after buying an additional 249,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DLD Asset Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 30.1% during the 3rd quarter. DLD Asset Management LP now owns 47,500,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,986,675,000 after buying an additional 11,000,000 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $115.47 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $115.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $113.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $76.66 and a fifty-two week high of $125.14. The firm has a market cap of $285.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.21.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported ($1.28) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.47) by $0.19. The company had revenue of $16.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 27.55%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.22 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.040-5.160 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 95.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $142.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Zacks Research raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.18.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.