Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC Cuts Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC lessened its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 75.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 6,257 shares of the company's stock after selling 19,524 shares during the quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $562,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Norges Bank bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,479,799,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 80,742,030 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,032,217,000 after purchasing an additional 4,932,647 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 31,377,107 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,121,395,000 after purchasing an additional 4,511,742 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 63.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,577,535 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,151,642,000 after purchasing an additional 4,480,007 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9,991.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,332,446 shares of the company's stock valued at $388,880,000 after purchasing an additional 4,289,516 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $0.45 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $81.35. 12,746,864 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,289,933. The company has a market capitalization of $204.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.77. 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 52-week low of $73.31 and a 52-week high of $129.93.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $15.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.07 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s payout ratio is currently 47.16%.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 7,778 shares of the company's stock, valued at $643,707.28. This trade represents a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.