Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by Sound Income Strategies LLC

Sound Income Strategies LLC lessened its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 22.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,528 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,629 shares during the quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Berenberg Bank raised their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. 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. Finally, 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 report on Friday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK remained flat at $132.96 on Tuesday. The stock had a trading volume of 6,758,253 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,113,445. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $129.15 and its 200-day moving average is $123.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market cap of $336.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 147.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 342.22%.

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.