KG&L Capital Management LLC Sells 6,229 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

KG&L Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 57.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,520 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,229 shares during the period. KG&L Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $477,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. DLD Asset Management LP boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 30.1% in the third quarter. DLD Asset Management LP now owns 47,500,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,986,675,000 after purchasing an additional 11,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 192.7% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,496,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $461,335,000 after purchasing an additional 3,618,532 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 19,844,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,665,585,000 after purchasing an additional 2,821,766 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.7% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 15,933,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,336,877,000 after purchasing an additional 2,735,459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 85.6% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,937,948 shares of the company’s stock worth $390,896,000 after purchasing an additional 2,277,088 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $82.00 to $130.00 in a report on Thursday, December 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $127.59.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.0%

MRK stock opened at $121.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.30. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $73.31 and a 52-week high of $125.14. The company has a 50-day moving average of $119.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $104.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $299.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.26.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.03. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 28.08% and a return on equity of 44.57%. The company had revenue of $16.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Merck & Co., Inc. has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.000-5.150 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, CFO Caroline Litchfield sold 41,997 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.61, for a total transaction of $5,023,261.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 90,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,787,865.12. This represents a 31.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Chirfi Guindo sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.88, for a total transaction of $2,437,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 80,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,825,356.20. This represents a 19.88% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 320,176 shares of company stock valued at $38,281,735 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a global biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal health products. Its portfolio spans multiple therapeutic areas with a particular emphasis on oncology, vaccines and infectious disease, as well as therapies for metabolic and chronic conditions. Among its well-known products are the cancer immunotherapy Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and the human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil; the company also markets a range of medicines and vaccines for veterinary use through Merck Animal Health.

Founded in the late 19th century as the U.S.