Financial Management Professionals Inc. Sells 116 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Financial Management Professionals Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,578 shares of the company’s stock after selling 116 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cross Staff Investments Inc raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 6,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $732,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter worth $212,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% during the first quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 77,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,270,000 after acquiring an additional 4,433 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Investment Group lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 2,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the period. Finally, Schear Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $352,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Berenberg Bank increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 4.6 %

MRK opened at $123.80 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $313.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 137.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $129.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $124.27.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.49%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

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.