Merit Financial Group LLC Sells 11,405 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Merit Financial Group LLC decreased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 23.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 37,590 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,405 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,098,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Bordeaux Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 76.4% in the fourth quarter. Bordeaux Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,573 shares of the company’s stock worth $499,000 after acquiring an additional 1,981 shares during the period. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 362.4% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 334,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,431,000 after buying an additional 261,901 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 205,106 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,361,000 after buying an additional 38,497 shares during the period. Finally, Aveo Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $710,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on MRK shares. Berenberg Bank raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK traded down $0.75 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $127.51. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,221,928 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,932,243. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $133.10. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $126.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $116.58. The company has a market cap of $322.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 141.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.15%. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.