Inlet Private Wealth LLC Has $5.86 Million Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

by · The Cerbat Gem

Inlet Private Wealth LLC cut its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Free Report) by 0.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,617 shares of the company’s stock after selling 171 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for 1.5% of Inlet Private Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Inlet Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,862,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3,714.9% during the first 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 increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 67.6% in the first 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 last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at approximately $724,776,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,782,000 after purchasing an additional 2,473,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 230.8% in the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,807,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $347,622,000 after buying an additional 1,959,152 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on MRK. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.62.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on MRK

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $0.65 during trading on Thursday, hitting $109.77. 3,005,154 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,738,294. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $114.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $122.69. The company has a market cap of $278.03 billion, a PE ratio of 122.70, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.06) EPS. Analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 342.22%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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