Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Purchased by CapWealth Advisors LLC

CapWealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 7.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 230,364 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 15,770 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up approximately 2.2% of CapWealth Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. CapWealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $20,677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,479,799,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 63.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,577,535 shares of the company's stock worth $1,151,642,000 after acquiring an additional 4,480,007 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9,991.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,332,446 shares of the company's stock worth $388,880,000 after acquiring an additional 4,289,516 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

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 stock was 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 directly owned 7,778 shares of the company's stock, valued at $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK traded up $2.37 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $83.74. 18,390,570 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,368,539. The business's 50 day moving average price is $79.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The company has a market capitalization of $210.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $73.31 and a 1 year high of $129.93.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 43.23% and a net margin of 27.27%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.07 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.87%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.