Sivia Capital Partners LLC Sells 614 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Sivia Capital Partners LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,484 shares of the company’s stock after selling 614 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up about 0.5% of Sivia Capital Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Sivia Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $803,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,108,366,000. Capital International Investors increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3,714.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,023,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $794,847,000 after buying an additional 5,865,948 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,954,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,841,233,000 after buying an additional 5,627,923 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter worth approximately $724,776,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 85,595,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,331,676,000 after acquiring an additional 3,153,333 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.6 %

MRK stock opened at $117.87 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $298.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 130.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $119.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $125.09. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 40.69%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($2.06) EPS. Analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 342.22%.

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.