Ballentine Partners LLC Lowers Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Ballentine Partners LLC reduced its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 4.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 60,496 shares of the company's stock after selling 3,013 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,430,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 251,096,107 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,979,041,000 after acquiring an additional 1,292,192 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 80,742,030 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,032,217,000 after acquiring an additional 4,932,647 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,181,863 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,072,582,000 after acquiring an additional 2,026,859 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $3,479,799,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 31,377,107 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,121,395,000 after acquiring an additional 4,511,742 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $84.00 price objective (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen cut 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 issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $108.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of MRK stock traded down $0.67 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $83.35. 9,716,130 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,419,646. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.31 and a 12-month high of $129.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company's 50-day moving average price is $79.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $209.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.07 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.81 dividend. 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 (DPR) is 47.16%.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the business's 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 directly owned 7,778 shares of the company's stock, valued at $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.