Sweet Financial Partners LLC Sells 2,514 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Sweet Financial Partners LLC decreased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 32.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,354 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,514 shares during the period. Sweet Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $608,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3,714.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,023,853 shares of the company’s stock worth $794,847,000 after buying an additional 5,865,948 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,841,233,000 after acquiring an additional 5,627,923 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $724,776,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,782,000 after acquiring an additional 2,473,346 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 230.8% in the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,807,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $347,622,000 after purchasing an additional 1,959,152 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on MRK shares. Bank of America lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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 report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $109.74 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $277.95 billion, a PE ratio of 121.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $114.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $122.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $99.14 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during 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%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($2.06) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.