Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC Trims Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC reduced its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 43.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,270 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,801 shares during the period. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $684,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MRK. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 period. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,089,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 16,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,807,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 6,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $671,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 4,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $524,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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

In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of MRK traded down $0.75 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $127.51. The company had a trading volume of 6,221,928 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,932,243. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $133.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $322.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 141.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.39. 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $116.75.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. 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. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.