Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC trimmed its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,724 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,012 shares during the period. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,266,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,207,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.0% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 199,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,739,000 after acquiring an additional 7,641 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,584,209 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,127,000 after acquiring an additional 28,185 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.6% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,775,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $219,784,000 after acquiring an additional 61,677 shares during the period. Finally, Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% in the second quarter. Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC now owns 20,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,476,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Leerink Partners cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $98.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $247.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50 day moving average of $100.01 and a 200 day moving average of $109.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $94.48 and a 1-year high of $134.63.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. 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.