Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Has $26.37 Million Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 4.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 293,746 shares of the company's stock after selling 13,659 shares during the quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $26,367,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MRK. Quilter Plc boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 1,180,797 shares of the company's stock valued at $105,988,000 after buying an additional 62,933 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 991.7% in the 1st quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 33,394 shares of the company's stock worth $2,997,000 after purchasing an additional 30,335 shares during the last quarter. Napatree Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Napatree Capital LLC now owns 4,220 shares of the company's stock worth $420,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 56,566 shares of the company's stock worth $5,118,000 after buying an additional 6,850 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Financial LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 34.2% during the 4th 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $84.00 target price (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 Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $108.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $0.67 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $83.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,716,130 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,445,339. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.41. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $129.03. The business's 50 day moving average price is $79.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.40. The company has a market cap of $209.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.39.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 27.27% and a return on equity of 43.23%. 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 business earned $2.07 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.89%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the company's 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 directly owned 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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.