Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Trims Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky reduced its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 32.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 302,843 shares of the company's stock after selling 146,060 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $27,183,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The stock was 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 owned 7,778 shares of the company's stock, valued at $643,707.28. This represents a 35.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $1.55 on Friday, hitting $79.97. The stock had a trading volume of 11,654,241 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,503,365. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $73.31 and a one year high of $128.73. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $79.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.79. The stock has a market cap of $200.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.64, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. The business 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 revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.07 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.05%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s payout ratio is presently 47.16%.

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.