Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Lowers Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 15.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,786 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,649 shares during the period. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,247,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 180.2% in the third quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 311 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,500.0% in the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 416 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keener Financial Planning LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MRK. Barclays upped their price objective 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. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $142.00 price objective (up from $139.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. TD Cowen upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Berenberg Bank upped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of MRK traded down $0.40 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $125.79. 3,135,079 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,341,180. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $133.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $126.28 and its 200-day moving average is $114.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $318.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 898.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.62 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2,200.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.