Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Acquired by Signal Advisors Wealth LLC

Signal Advisors Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 12.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,343 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the period. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $300,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $365,000. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 38,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,808,000 after buying an additional 8,710 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,350,000. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.6% in the 4th quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp now owns 4,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $469,000 after acquiring an additional 773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,990,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total transaction of $352,723.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $643,707.28. This trade represents a 35.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on MRK. TD Securities downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. TD Cowen cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $78.95 on Friday. 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 1-year low of $73.31 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $79.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $89.91. The company has a market capitalization of $198.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.73, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 26.67% and a return on equity of 45.35%. The company’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.07 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.10%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.16%.

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.