Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by Phillips Wealth Planners LLC

Phillips Wealth Planners LLC lowered its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 12.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,992 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,094 shares during the quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $793,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MRK. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth about $32,000. AM Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on MRK shares. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Leerink Partners dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Daiwa America downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. HSBC upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $95.72 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $242.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.07, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $99.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $109.20. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.