HCR Wealth Advisors Has $544,000 Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

HCR Wealth Advisors cut its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 69.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,057 shares of the company's stock after selling 13,639 shares during the period. HCR Wealth Advisors' holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $544,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Simplicity Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 991.7% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Napatree Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Napatree Capital LLC now owns 4,220 shares of the company's stock worth $420,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 73,468 shares of the company's stock worth $7,309,000 after buying an additional 18,775 shares during the last quarter. Element Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Element Wealth LLC now owns 4,000 shares of the company's stock worth $398,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 34.2% during the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 102,099 shares of the company's stock worth $10,229,000 after buying an additional 25,997 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total transaction of $352,723.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $643,707.28. This represents a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MRK shares. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Citigroup reissued 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. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $0.05 on Friday, hitting $79.24. The company had a trading volume of 33,825,641 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,060,298. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $73.31 and a twelve month high of $134.63. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $78.89 and a 200-day moving average of $88.52.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $15.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 27.27% and a return on equity of 43.23%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.07 earnings per share. Research analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend 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%.

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.