Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by Forte Capital LLC ADV

Forte Capital LLC ADV decreased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,582 shares of the company’s stock after selling 428 shares during the period. Forte Capital LLC ADV’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. RIA Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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 research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Berenberg Bank raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, TheStreet downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $0.75 on Friday, hitting $127.51. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,221,928 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,932,243. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $126.45 and a 200-day moving average of $116.75. The company has a market capitalization of $322.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 141.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $133.10. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.69 EPS for the current year.

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.