Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 296 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,540 shares of the company’s stock after selling 296 shares during the period. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $599,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Tidemark LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.3% in the first quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued 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, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE MRK opened at $115.33 on Wednesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.14 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The company has a market capitalization of $292.11 billion, a PE ratio of 128.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a fifty day moving average of $119.43 and a 200 day moving average of $124.85.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($2.06) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.