B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 146,629 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,946 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $16,097,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Bare Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $127.52 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $322.98 billion, a PE ratio of 141.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $128.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $122.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.40 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.64 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.42%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 342.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Berenberg Bank lifted their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Argus upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Societe Generale cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 11th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.00.

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.