Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 9,760 Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 9,760 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $876,000.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the 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 now directly owns 7,778 shares in the company, valued at $643,707.28. This represents a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE:MRK traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $79.24. The company had a trading volume of 33,825,641 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,060,298. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $73.31 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The firm has a market cap of $198.98 billion, a PE ratio of 11.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.38. The business's 50 day moving average price is $78.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $88.67. 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. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 43.23% and a net margin of 27.27%. The company had revenue of $15.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.07 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.'s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.16%.

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.