Opal Wealth Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Opal Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,290 shares of the company’s stock after selling 92 shares during the quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $374,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,841,233,000 after buying an additional 5,627,923 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,362,812 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,102,135,000 after acquiring an additional 56,644 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,693,065 shares of the company’s stock valued at $952,402,000 after acquiring an additional 64,996 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 38.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,530,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $855,119,000 after acquiring an additional 2,095,694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 7,070,287 shares of the company’s stock worth $932,924,000 after purchasing an additional 296,092 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $111.54 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $114.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $282.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 123.93, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($2.06) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 342.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

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.