Sound Income Strategies LLC Sells 131 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Sound Income Strategies LLC decreased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,621 shares of the company’s stock after selling 131 shares during the quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $638,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% during the first quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. IRON Financial LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% in the second quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 1,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Argent Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Vista Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MRK shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $109.73 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $277.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $114.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $123.08. 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 results 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 analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($2.06) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.