Atria Investments Inc Reduces Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Atria Investments Inc lowered its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 21.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 185,461 shares of the company's stock after selling 49,315 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $16,647,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quilter Plc boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.6% during the first quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 1,180,797 shares of the company's stock worth $105,988,000 after buying an additional 62,933 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 991.7% during the first quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 33,394 shares of the company's stock worth $2,997,000 after buying an additional 30,335 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.8% during the first 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 last quarter. Advisor OS LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the first quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 32,558 shares of the company's stock worth $2,922,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Financial LLC boosted its stake in 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on MRK. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $84.00 price target (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $108.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of MRK traded up $0.71 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $84.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,057,745 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,316,467. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.31 and a 12-month high of $128.73. The stock has a market cap of $212.98 billion, a PE ratio of 12.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.39. 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 company's 50 day moving average is $80.03 and its 200 day moving average is $85.30.

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, 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 business had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.07 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.82%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s payout ratio is currently 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.