Bank OZK Sells 19,153 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. $MRK

Key Points

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Bank OZK trimmed its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 40.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,955 shares of the company's stock after selling 19,153 shares during the quarter. Bank OZK's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,509,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Semus Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,039 shares of the company's stock worth $452,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.4% during the 1st quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 19,376 shares of the company's stock worth $1,739,000 after acquiring an additional 3,282 shares in the last quarter. Quilter Plc grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 1,180,797 shares of the company's stock worth $105,988,000 after acquiring an additional 62,933 shares in the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 991.7% during the 1st quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 33,394 shares of the company's stock worth $2,997,000 after acquiring an additional 30,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 56,566 shares of the company's stock worth $5,118,000 after acquiring an additional 6,850 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MRK. Morgan Stanley decreased 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, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. 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. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $84.00 price target (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $107.44.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

NYSE:MRK opened at $84.21 on Tuesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $73.31 and a 1-year high of $120.30. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $83.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $210.34 billion, a PE ratio of 12.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.05% and a net margin of 25.79%. The business had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.92 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.

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