Financial Advisory Partners LLC Sells 594 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Financial Advisory Partners LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 24,547 shares of the company’s stock after selling 594 shares during the period. Financial Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,788,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth $39,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.3% in the first quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1,475.6% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 35,057 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 32,832 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $0.44 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $109.83. The company had a trading volume of 1,721,601 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,747,752. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $134.63. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $114.79 and its 200-day moving average is $123.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $278.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 121.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The company 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 quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($2.06) EPS. On average, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 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.