1832 Asset Management L.P. Sells 3,954 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

1832 Asset Management L.P. trimmed its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 50,122 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,954 shares during the quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $6,614,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Stonegate Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the first quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 24,915 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,288,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% during 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 during the last quarter. Hendershot Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Hendershot Investments Inc. now owns 15,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,079,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Endowment Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.2% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK traded down $0.59 during trading on Friday, reaching $125.26. 6,467,036 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,859,123. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $128.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $126.56. The company has a market cap of $317.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 139.18, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.55 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 342.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on MRK. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Berenberg Bank upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Argus raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $135.36.

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.