Western Wealth Management LLC Purchases 472 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Western Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 29,294 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 472 shares during the quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,194,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kennedy Investment Group grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 2,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,000 after buying an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Constitution Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Constitution Capital LLC now owns 3,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth $599,000. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $327,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 57,526 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,922,000 after purchasing an additional 15,529 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 Merck & Co., Inc. 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. 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 transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MRK shares. TheStreet cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Societe Generale cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 11th. StockNews.com upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays increased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK traded down $0.19 during trading on Thursday, hitting $125.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,984,255 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,315,480. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $133.10. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $114.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $317.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 891.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.49 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The business’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.62 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2,200.00%.

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.