Wealth Effects LLC Sells 170 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Wealth Effects LLC lowered its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,730 shares of the company’s stock after selling 170 shares during the quarter. Wealth Effects LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. IRON Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 1,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $288,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% during the second quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 10,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,302,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forza Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% during the second quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,297,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.4 %

MRK traded down $0.52 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $116.06. 384,030 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,559,444. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $120.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $125.27. The firm has a market cap of $293.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.06) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

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.