Veracity Capital LLC Sells 406 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Veracity Capital LLC cut its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 9.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,089 shares of the company’s stock after selling 406 shares during the period. Veracity Capital LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $407,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 33.8% during the 2nd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 93,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,550,000 after buying an additional 23,589 shares in the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% during the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 1,050,486 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,357,000 after acquiring an additional 35,627 shares during the period. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $241,000. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.3% in the 2nd quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 7,806 shares of the company’s stock worth $966,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $123.00 to $113.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $123.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $96.57 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $244.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.24, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $94.48 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $99.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $109.11.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. Analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.92%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.