Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Sells 9,338 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. reduced its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 460,764 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,338 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for 0.9% of Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $57,043,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. NTV Asset Management LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% in the first quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. IRON Financial LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% in the second quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 1,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Endowment Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK stock traded up $0.99 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $118.45. The company had a trading volume of 8,876,478 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,613,569. The firm has a market cap of $300.01 billion, a PE ratio of 131.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $121.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $125.41.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 41.67%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($2.06) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 342.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target 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.