N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC Sells 327 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC lowered its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 8.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,777 shares of the company’s stock after selling 327 shares during the quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $412,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. NTV Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 26,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,893,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 5,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $549,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,089,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 16,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,807,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 6,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $671,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Berenberg Bank raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. TheStreet downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $0.05 during trading on Monday, hitting $127.56. 6,551,711 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,219,841. 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 stock has a market cap of $323.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 141.73, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $126.42 and its 200-day moving average is $117.13. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $99.14 and a 52 week high of $133.10.

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

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value 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 this link. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.