Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by Capital Wealth Planning LLC

Capital Wealth Planning LLC lessened its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 27.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,513,495 shares of the company’s stock after selling 932,081 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises approximately 3.1% of Capital Wealth Planning LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Capital Wealth Planning LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $274,021,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MinichMacGregor Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 33.7% in the 4th quarter. MinichMacGregor Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,998 shares of the company’s stock valued at $436,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008 shares in the last quarter. Wade G W & Inc. lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Wade G W & Inc. now owns 218,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,826,000 after buying an additional 3,182 shares in the last quarter. KLR Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. KLR Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $608,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the period. Facet Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth $185,000. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 216,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,559,000 after acquiring an additional 7,330 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. 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. TheStreet downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded down $0.83 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $130.90. The stock had a trading volume of 5,481,673 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,076,159. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $331.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 146.38, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 earnings per share 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.