Invera Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 544 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Invera Wealth Advisors LLC cut its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.0% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 10,379 shares of the company’s stock after selling 544 shares during the quarter. Invera Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,300,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cross Staff Investments Inc lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 6,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $732,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Investment Group raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $352,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares during the last quarter. Constitution Capital LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Constitution Capital LLC now owns 3,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $392,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth $599,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK traded down $1.10 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $130.10. The stock had a trading volume of 6,829,150 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,318,161. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.14 and a 52-week high of $133.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $126.46 and a 200 day moving average of $116.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market cap of $329.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 144.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 14.15%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MRK. Barclays upped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. TheStreet cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Berenberg Bank raised their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.33.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.