Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC

KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,052 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,583 shares during the quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,094,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,233,000 after buying an additional 5,627,923 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,362,812 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,102,135,000 after buying an additional 56,644 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,693,065 shares of the company’s stock worth $952,402,000 after buying an additional 64,996 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 38.6% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,530,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $855,119,000 after buying an additional 2,095,694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 7,070,287 shares of the company’s stock worth $932,924,000 after buying an additional 296,092 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $108.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The company has a market capitalization of $275.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 120.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $114.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $122.45.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($2.06) EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 342.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. 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 report on Monday, October 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.62.

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.