Ritholtz Wealth Management Sells 6,900 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Ritholtz Wealth Management trimmed its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 14.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,807 shares of the company's stock after selling 6,900 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,663,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MRK. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 251,096,107 shares of the company's stock worth $24,979,041,000 after buying an additional 1,292,192 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised 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 worth $8,032,217,000 after acquiring an additional 4,932,647 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,181,863 shares of the company's stock worth $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. during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,479,799,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 31,377,107 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,121,395,000 after purchasing an additional 4,511,742 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MRK. Wall Street Zen downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded shares of 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 set a $115.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $84.00 price target (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $105.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK stock traded down $0.75 on Monday, reaching $80.97. The company had a trading volume of 12,565,388 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,829,913. The business's 50-day moving average is $78.93 and its 200 day moving average is $89.11. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $73.31 and a one year high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.31 billion, a PE ratio of 12.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 26.67% and a return on equity of 45.35%. The firm had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.07 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s payout ratio is 47.16%.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

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.