Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 212 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,978 shares of the company’s stock after selling 212 shares during the quarter. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $437,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 94.2% in the first quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P now owns 349,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,683,000 after purchasing an additional 169,536 shares during the last quarter. BCK Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at $2,423,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.3% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 159,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,064,000 after acquiring an additional 9,376 shares during the last quarter. First Western Trust Bank bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at $1,078,000. Finally, Equitable Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.9% during the first quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. now owns 36,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,964,000 after acquiring an additional 4,131 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, 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 transaction of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, 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 transaction of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction 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 $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Societe Generale lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 11th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of 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 report on Thursday, January 4th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $122.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.50.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 4.1 %

MRK stock traded up $5.13 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $130.65. The stock had a trading volume of 7,601,516 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,636,336. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $99.14 and a one year high of $133.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company’s 50 day moving average is $124.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $112.27. The company has a market capitalization of $330.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 938.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 0.61% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The business had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.58 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 2,200.00%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.