Avior Wealth Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Avior Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 19.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,960 shares of the company’s stock after selling 970 shares during the quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $432,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 82,442,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,487,472,000 after purchasing an additional 5,196,914 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 41,850,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,643,267,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000,816 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 103,159.7% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 39,327,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,363,385,000 after purchasing an additional 39,289,404 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,951,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,289,429,000 after buying an additional 1,246,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,859,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,074,048,000 after buying an additional 1,186,842 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of MRK stock opened at $125.18 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $126.17 and a 200 day moving average of $114.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market cap of $317.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 894.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $133.10.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The company had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.49 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.62 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 2,200.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Berenberg Bank increased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.