IAG Wealth Partners LLC Has $152,000 Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

IAG Wealth Partners LLC lowered its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 8.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,694 shares of the company’s stock after selling 150 shares during the period. IAG Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $152,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Simplicity Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 991.7% in the first quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 33,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,997,000 after buying an additional 30,335 shares during the last quarter. Napatree Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Napatree Capital LLC now owns 4,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $420,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $2,080,000. Lifeworks Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 73,468 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,309,000 after buying an additional 18,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Element Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Element Wealth LLC now owns 4,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price objective (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.19.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total transaction of $352,723.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,778 shares in the company, valued at $643,707.28. This represents a 35.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.2%

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $81.68 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $78.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $89.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $205.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $73.31 and a 12 month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. The company had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.07 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.97%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.16%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.