RMR Wealth Builders Lowers Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

RMR Wealth Builders lessened its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 53.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,402 shares of the company's stock after selling 14,234 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders' holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,113,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MRK. Simplicity Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 991.7% during the first quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 33,394 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,997,000 after acquiring an additional 30,335 shares in the last quarter. Napatree Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Napatree Capital LLC now owns 4,220 shares of the company's stock valued at $420,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,080,000. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC now owns 56,307 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,601,000 after acquiring an additional 8,461 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lifeworks Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 73,468 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,309,000 after acquiring an additional 18,775 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the business'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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,778 shares of the company's stock, valued at $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK traded down $0.14 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $81.68. 14,549,536 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,873,348. The stock has a market capitalization of $205.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.31 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $78.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $89.20.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 26.67% and a return on equity of 45.35%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.07 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. 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. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $84.00 price objective (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $109.19.

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.