Signal Advisors Wealth LLC Has $298,000 Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Signal Advisors Wealth LLC lowered its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,972 shares of the company’s stock after selling 320 shares during the period. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $298,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. AM Squared Ltd bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $100.20 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $253.47 billion, a PE ratio of 21.01, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.39. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $110.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $94.48 and a one year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Daiwa America lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned 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 stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.67.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.