Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Bought by Advocate Group LLC

Advocate Group LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 5.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,295 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,188 shares during the period. Advocate Group LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $7,656,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Simplicity Wealth LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 991.7% in the first quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 33,394 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,997,000 after purchasing an additional 30,335 shares during the period. Napatree Capital LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Napatree Capital LLC now owns 4,220 shares of the company's stock valued at $420,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the period. Lifeworks Advisors LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 73,468 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,309,000 after purchasing an additional 18,775 shares during the period. Element Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Element Wealth LLC now owns 4,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $398,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 34.2% during the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 102,099 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,229,000 after acquiring an additional 25,997 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total transaction of $352,723.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,778 shares of the company's stock, valued at $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MRK. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $84.00 price target (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.1%

MRK stock traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $79.24. The stock had a trading volume of 33,825,641 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,041,534. The firm has a market cap of $198.98 billion, a PE ratio of 11.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.16. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.31 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The company's 50-day moving average price is $78.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.43.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 27.27% and a return on equity of 43.23%. The firm had revenue of $15.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.07 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.'s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.09%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.16%.

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.