FourThought Financial Partners LLC Sells 1,213 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC trimmed its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 18.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,486 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,213 shares during the period. FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $598,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MRK. TCG Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 138.3% during the 4th quarter. TCG Advisory Services LLC now owns 98,352 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,722,000 after purchasing an additional 57,078 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 48,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,284,000 after buying an additional 1,459 shares during the last quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC now owns 58,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,388,000 after buying an additional 880 shares during the period. AJOVista LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $158,000. Finally, ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 45.6% during the 4th quarter. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 144,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,706,000 after acquiring an additional 45,138 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on MRK. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Berenberg Bank increased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE MRK traded down $0.75 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $127.51. 6,221,928 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,932,243. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $133.10. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $116.94. The company has a market cap of $322.99 billion, a PE ratio of 141.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.15%. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.