Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Sells 2,981 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE reduced its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 150,022 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,981 shares during the period. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $19,795,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 77.2% during the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 51,757 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,328,000 after purchasing an additional 22,546 shares during the last quarter. Eubel Brady & Suttman Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Eubel Brady & Suttman Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,652 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 42.1% during the 3rd quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,025,000 after purchasing an additional 5,795 shares during the last quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 102,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,639,000 after purchasing an additional 585 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 5,957 shares of the company’s stock worth $613,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE:MRK traded up $4.10 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $127.90. The stock had a trading volume of 11,528,431 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,565,867. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $129.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $124.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $323.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 142.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 3.76%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 342.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MRK shares. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Argus raised Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Societe Generale downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.00.

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.