Icon Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 21,692 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 49.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 22,412 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,692 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,755,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Studio Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% during the third quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 43,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,986,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% in the third quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 43,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,978,000 after acquiring an additional 1,463 shares during the last quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.5% in the third quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 12,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,446,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% in the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 328,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,294,000 after purchasing an additional 6,171 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 29,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,349,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 3.0 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $100.41 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $107.44 and a 200-day moving average of $118.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $94.48 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $254.00 billion, a PE ratio of 21.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.40.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.92%.

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.