Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC Sells 11,333 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 25.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 33,047 shares of the company's stock after selling 11,333 shares during the period. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,966,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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 value of $352,723.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 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 hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MRK. Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and set a $84.00 price target (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $108.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.8%

MRK traded down $0.67 during trading on Friday, reaching $83.35. 9,716,130 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,419,646. The company's fifty day moving average price is $79.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.41. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $129.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $209.29 billion, a PE ratio of 12.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.39.

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 analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.07 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.16%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

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.