Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stock Position Lowered by Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC

Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC lessened its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 20.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,368 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,201 shares during the period. Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $912,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 86.2% during the fourth quarter. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC now owns 63,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,900,000 after purchasing an additional 29,304 shares during the period. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $1,436,000. HealthInvest Partners AB acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $7,160,000. Allen Capital Group LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 10,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,180,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 1,282,303 shares of the company’s stock worth $139,797,000 after purchasing an additional 50,423 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MRK shares. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. TD Cowen raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Berenberg Bank upped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday, April 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE MRK traded down $1.13 on Wednesday, reaching $125.06. The stock had a trading volume of 5,587,332 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,405,260. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $126.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $114.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $133.10. The company has a market capitalization of $316.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 893.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The firm had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.62 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2,200.00%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.