InTrack Investment Management Inc Sells 854 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

InTrack Investment Management Inc lowered its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 22.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,993 shares of the company’s stock after selling 854 shares during the quarter. InTrack Investment Management Inc’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $395,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. NTV Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 26,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,893,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position 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 worth $549,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. lifted 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 period. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% during the 4th 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 grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC now owns 12,229 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Societe Generale downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Argus upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $127.72. 5,644,609 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,542,705. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $129.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $124.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company has a market capitalization of $323.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 141.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 342.22%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.