Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. Sells 23,421 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. reduced its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 80.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,816 shares of the company’s stock after selling 23,421 shares during the quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $720,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MRK. Aveo Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,515 shares of the company’s stock worth $710,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Prudent Man Advisors LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Prudent Man Advisors LLC now owns 19,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,161,000 after acquiring an additional 712 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 177,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,338,000 after acquiring an additional 6,158 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 15,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,653,000 after purchasing an additional 2,815 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NEOS Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 43.2% during the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 48,617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,300,000 after buying an additional 14,657 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group lowered their target price 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. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE MRK opened at $113.69 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $116.70 and its 200 day moving average is $124.02. The stock has a market cap of $287.95 billion, a PE ratio of 126.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($2.06) EPS. Research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 342.22%.

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.