Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. Sells 400 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. cut its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 13.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,623 shares of the company’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $286,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Cardinal Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 68,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,127,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.6% in the third quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 5,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% during the third quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 107,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,065,000 after acquiring an additional 1,155 shares during the last quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% during the third quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 8,259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $850,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Naples Global Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.5% during the third quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 96,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,956,000 after acquiring an additional 2,317 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the company’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 transaction of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the company’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 transaction of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $126.82. 4,067,314 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,253,444. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $126.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.35. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $133.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $321.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 906.71, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $14.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.62 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.59 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on MRK. Barclays increased their price target 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 increased their price target 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. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, March 11th. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, TD Cowen raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.25.

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.