Sawyer & Company Inc Reduces Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Sawyer & Company Inc reduced its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,892 shares of the company’s stock after selling 229 shares during the period. Sawyer & Company Inc’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,493,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. NTV Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 26,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,893,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 5,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $549,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,089,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC now owns 12,229 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on MRK shares. Truist Financial boosted 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. Societe Generale cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. TheStreet cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, 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 research note on Wednesday, March 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $123.80 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $129.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $124.27. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $313.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 137.56, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

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