King Luther Capital Management Corp Sells 349,697 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Key Points

• King Luther Capital Management Corp reduced its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.4%, selling 349,697 shares and bringing their total holdings to 1,368,037 shares worth approximately $122.8 million.
• Several hedge funds, including Foundation Wealth Management LLC and N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC, have recently increased their stakes in Merck, reflecting a broad interest from institutional investors who collectively own 76.07% of the company.
• Merck reported quarterly earnings of $2.13 EPS, surpassing analyst expectations, while offering a quarterly dividend of $0.81 per share with an annualized yield of 4.0%.

King Luther Capital Management Corp decreased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 20.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,368,037 shares of the company's stock after selling 349,697 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp owned about 0.05% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $122,795,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.4% during the first quarter. Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA now owns 5,361 shares of the company's stock worth $481,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% during the first quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,197 shares of the company's stock worth $466,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Tilson Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.7% during the first quarter. Tilson Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,965 shares of the company's stock worth $446,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% during the first quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 6,021 shares of the company's stock worth $540,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forza Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% during the first quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,761 shares of the company's stock worth $966,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MRK. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. 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 issued a $84.00 price target (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $107.44.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK opened at $80.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The company has a market capitalization of $201.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.38. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $80.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.94. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $73.31 and a 1 year high of $120.30.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.92 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 25.79% and a return on equity of 41.05%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s payout ratio is currently 49.92%.

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.

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