Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC Has $8.31 Million Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 27.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 92,619 shares of the company’s stock after selling 34,505 shares during the period. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $8,313,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 price objective (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $108.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $84.82 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $212.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $73.31 and a 1 year high of $128.73. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 43.23% and a net margin of 27.27%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.07 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.16%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

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.