Wealthquest Corp Cuts Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Wealthquest Corp cut its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,179 shares of the company’s stock after selling 845 shares during the quarter. Wealthquest Corp’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,003,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter valued at about $39,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Roble Belko & Company Inc grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.3% during the 1st quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:MRK opened at $113.56 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $287.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 126.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $116.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $123.97. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($2.06) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 342.22%.

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.