Summit Trail Advisors LLC Sells 1,056 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Summit Trail Advisors LLC lessened its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,711 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,056 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,075,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter valued at about $212,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted 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. Patron Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% during the first quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 10,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,396,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 30,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,898,000 after acquiring an additional 2,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.0% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 247,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,636,000 after purchasing an additional 22,578 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $117.16 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The company has a market cap of $296.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 130.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $117.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.30.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The business’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($2.06) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Wolfe Research upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.