Compass Capital Corp MA ADV Reduces Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Compass Capital Corp MA ADV lowered its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 43.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,815 shares of the company's stock after selling 6,899 shares during the quarter. Compass Capital Corp MA ADV's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $791,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 83.7% during the fourth quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 316 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $79.24. The stock had a trading volume of 33,825,641 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,060,298. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $73.31 and a 1 year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.07 EPS. 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 will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total transaction of $352,723.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,778 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.