DGS Capital Management LLC Has $644,000 Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

DGS Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,903 shares of the company’s stock after selling 573 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $644,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 5,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $612,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 16,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,807,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 6,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $671,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 4,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $524,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, Bell Bank grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Bell Bank now owns 9,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,007,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.4 %

MRK stock traded down $0.48 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $125.71. 1,688,075 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,322,817. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $126.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $114.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.25. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.14 and a 12 month high of $133.10. The company has a market capitalization of $318.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 901.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.49 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.62 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective 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. UBS Group boosted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Societe Generale cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 11th. TheStreet cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, TD Cowen raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.25.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In related news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.