Forza Wealth Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Forza Wealth Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,398 shares of the company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,372,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nilsine Partners LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.6% during the first quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 23,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,051,000 after purchasing an additional 2,595 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 172.8% during the first quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 62,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,257,000 after purchasing an additional 39,638 shares in the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 22.8% during the first quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 22,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,941,000 after purchasing an additional 4,133 shares in the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.2% during the first quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 20,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,670,000 after purchasing an additional 996 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.4% during the first quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. UBS Group increased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.33.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded down $1.10 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $130.10. The company had a trading volume of 6,829,150 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,318,161. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $133.10. 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 has a market cap of $329.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 144.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.38. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $116.24.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $15.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.21 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 3.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.63 earnings per share for the current year.

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.