ARS Investment Partners LLC Sells 1,280 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

ARS Investment Partners LLC reduced its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 118,560 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,280 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises approximately 1.6% of ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $13,681,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Toth Financial Advisory Corp boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 1,134 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Cora Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Cora Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $465,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Wahed Invest LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 32,439 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,451,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. Veracity Capital LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 4,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $520,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, Greystone Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 7,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $755,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the period. 74.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $109.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “a-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Friday, September 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $102.00 to $113.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 18th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $116.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $124.74.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE MRK opened at $107.82 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market cap of $273.60 billion, a PE ratio of 88.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.33. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $84.52 and a one year high of $119.65. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $107.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $110.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The company reported ($2.06) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.18) by $0.12. The business had revenue of $15.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.44 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 5.34% and a return on equity of 16.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.87 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be issued a $0.73 dividend. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 239.34%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 4,500 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.49, for a total value of $474,705.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,867,745.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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, as well as vaccine products, such as preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines.