Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by Telemus Capital LLC

Telemus Capital LLC lowered its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,876 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,139 shares during the period. Telemus Capital LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MRK. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,392,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% in the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 36,780 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,758,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. CGN Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.8% in the third quarter. CGN Advisors LLC now owns 27,090 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,789,000 after acquiring an additional 1,241 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% in the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 101,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,423,000 after acquiring an additional 1,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keene & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% in the third quarter. Keene & Associates Inc. now owns 34,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,577,000 after acquiring an additional 382 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 issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $142.00 target price (up from $139.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. One equities 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock opened at $126.94 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $126.21 and a 200-day moving average of $115.35. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $133.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $321.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 906.71, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 0.61% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The company had revenue of $14.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction 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 approximately $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction 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 approximately $2,991,346.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,972.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.