Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by Summit Trail Advisors LLC

Summit Trail Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,039 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,353 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,858,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.7% during the third quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 5,529 shares of the company’s stock valued at $569,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC now owns 56,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,812,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 658,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,793,000 after acquiring an additional 5,600 shares during the period. Kowal Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the third quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 8,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $909,000 after acquiring an additional 321 shares during the period. Finally, Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 21.7% in the third quarter. Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ now owns 7,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $777,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK traded up $0.93 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $128.50. 1,361,914 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,140,459. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.25. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $133.10. The company has a market cap of $325.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 141.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $126.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $117.13.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MRK shares. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Societe Generale downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. TheStreet downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.33.

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.