CapWealth Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

CapWealth Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 226,494 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,406 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up 3.0% of CapWealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. CapWealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $24,692,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,487,472,000 after purchasing an additional 5,196,914 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 41,850,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,643,267,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000,816 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 103,159.7% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 39,327,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,363,385,000 after acquiring an additional 39,289,404 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,951,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,289,429,000 after acquiring an additional 1,246,705 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,859,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,074,048,000 after acquiring an additional 1,186,842 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MRK. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $142.00 price objective (up from $139.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, March 28th. TD Cowen raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Berenberg Bank boosted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.3 %

MRK stock traded down $0.42 during trading on Thursday, reaching $124.95. The company had a trading volume of 1,708,148 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,257,398. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $133.10. The company has a market cap of $316.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 891.43, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.38. The business has a 50 day moving average of $126.20 and a 200 day moving average of $114.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 0.61% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The company had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 2,200.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.