Valeo Financial Advisors LLC Sells 4,076 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Valeo Financial Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 91,819 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,076 shares during the quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $10,427,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Childress Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,243,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $64,225,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 94.1% in the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 35,032 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,819,000 after purchasing an additional 16,983 shares during the last quarter. Winslow Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Winslow Asset Management Inc. now owns 92,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,129,000 after purchasing an additional 784 shares during the period. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth about $507,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $109.71 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $277.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.35, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $114.59 and a 200 day moving average of $123.16. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $134.63. 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. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.87 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted ($2.06) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 57.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MRK shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $143.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “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.