Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by Holistic Financial Partners

Holistic Financial Partners lessened its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,294 shares of the company’s stock after selling 299 shares during the quarter. Holistic Financial Partners’ holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $532,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth $212,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% during the first quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 77,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,270,000 after acquiring an additional 4,433 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 12,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,338,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 145,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,870,000 after acquiring an additional 16,730 shares during the period. Finally, Patron Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 10,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,396,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE MRK opened at $118.45 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $121.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $125.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $300.01 billion, a PE ratio of 131.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($2.06) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 342.22%.

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 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.