Criterion Capital Advisors LLC Sells 151 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Criterion Capital Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 21.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 562 shares of the company’s stock after selling 151 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $74,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MCF Advisors LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 16,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after acquiring an additional 807 shares during the period. Opinicus Capital Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.4% during the 1st quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. now owns 11,181 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,475,000 after acquiring an additional 1,820 shares during the period. First Dallas Securities Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 20,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,713,000 after acquiring an additional 2,009 shares during the period. Avity Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 24.2% during the 1st quarter. Avity Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,420,000 after acquiring an additional 5,054 shares during the period. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 18.1% during the 1st quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 18,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,390,000 after acquiring an additional 2,781 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Berenberg Bank increased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Societe Generale lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, March 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded down $6.02 on Friday, hitting $123.80. 57,055,458 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,215,418. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $313.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 137.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.39. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $129.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $124.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.49%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.