Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. Has $805,000 Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. reduced its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,088 shares of the company’s stock after selling 234 shares during the period. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $805,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC now owns 4,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter valued at about $232,000. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,435 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,893,000 after buying an additional 1,570 shares during the last quarter. Talbot Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 91,520 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,393,000 after buying an additional 4,942 shares during the period. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 73,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,380,000 after buying an additional 8,237 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $110.28 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $123.45. The company has a market cap of $279.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 122.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month 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 firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($2.06) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MRK shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Barclays lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

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.