Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,063 shares of the company’s stock after selling 305 shares during the quarter. Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $916,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 10,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,351,000 after acquiring an additional 1,048 shares during the last quarter. Invst LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 48.1% during the first quarter. Invst LLC now owns 3,208 shares of the company’s stock worth $420,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042 shares during the period. Hamilton Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.5% during the first quarter. Hamilton Wealth LLC now owns 24,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.5% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,776,000 after purchasing an additional 2,045 shares during the period. Finally, Jackson Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the first quarter. Jackson Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,267,000 after purchasing an additional 1,620 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $103.12 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $105.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $117.15. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $260.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.62, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.57%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.