Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by South Street Advisors LLC

South Street Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,837 shares of the company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. South Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $599,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Aveo Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% during 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. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 85.5% during the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 13,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,436,000 after purchasing an additional 6,421 shares during the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $814,000. Facet Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $185,000. Finally, KLR Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. KLR Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $608,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of MRK stock opened at $115.33 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $119.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $292.11 billion, a PE ratio of 128.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted 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 company had revenue of $16.10 billion for 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%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($2.06) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group reduced 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 report on Wednesday, June 5th. Evercore ISI raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price 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. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.