Bluesphere Advisors LLC Cuts Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Bluesphere Advisors LLC cut its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,182 shares of the company’s stock after selling 534 shares during the period. Bluesphere Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Berry Wealth Group LP grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% in the third quarter. Berry Wealth Group LP now owns 37,033 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,205,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Castleview Partners LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 22.2% during the third quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 2,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 409 shares during the period. Marino Stram & Associates LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% during the third quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 35,450 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,026,000 after buying an additional 232 shares during the period. Violich Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the third quarter. Violich Capital Management Inc. now owns 91,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,360,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.0% during the third quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 32,187 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,655,000 after buying an additional 1,250 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on MRK shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.62.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.2 %

MRK stock traded down $1.27 during trading on Monday, reaching $107.43. The company had a trading volume of 3,764,773 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,744,933. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.80 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a market cap of $272.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 120.78, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50 day moving average of $114.31 and a 200 day moving average of $122.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.06) earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 342.22%.

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.