Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stake Lessened by OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC

OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 8.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 55,900 shares of the company's stock after selling 4,946 shares during the quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,018,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 38,278 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,808,000 after acquiring an additional 8,710 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 166,895 shares of the company's stock valued at $16,603,000 after acquiring an additional 19,719 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 39.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 15,479 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,540,000 after acquiring an additional 4,373 shares during the period. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Inceptionr LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,114,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $84.00 price objective (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $109.19.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The stock was 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 owned 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $1.42 during trading on Friday, hitting $80.97. The company had a trading volume of 7,734,538 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,282,113. The company has a market cap of $203.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.79, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.31 and a 52 week high of $129.93. The business's 50-day moving average is $79.20 and its 200 day moving average is $86.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.41.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 43.23% and a net margin of 27.27%. The firm's revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.07 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.00%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.