Convergence Investment Partners LLC Trims Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Convergence Investment Partners LLC lowered its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,562 shares of the company’s stock after selling 560 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up about 1.1% of Convergence Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Convergence Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,133,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 49.4% during the 3rd quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $995,000 after buying an additional 3,196 shares during the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 24.1% during the 3rd quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 5,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $567,000 after buying an additional 1,070 shares during the last quarter. Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC now owns 27,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,796,000 after buying an additional 726 shares during the last quarter. First Personal Financial Services increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. First Personal Financial Services now owns 3,814 shares of the company’s stock worth $393,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO now owns 39,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,073,000 after buying an additional 2,319 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on MRK. Berenberg Bank raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Societe Generale lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:MRK traded up $0.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $131.20. The stock had a trading volume of 7,758,230 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,512,518. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $126.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $115.96. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $99.14 and a 1-year high of $133.10. The company has a market capitalization of $332.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.63 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total value of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares in the company, valued at $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total transaction of $6,420,395.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.