Perennial Advisors LLC Invests $370,000 in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Perennial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 4,124 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $370,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Tallon Kerry Patrick acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $365,000. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 8,710 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,350,000. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp now owns 4,715 shares of the company's stock valued at $469,000 after purchasing an additional 773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,990,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.7%

MRK opened at $78.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $198.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $73.31 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $79.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $89.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.10%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s payout ratio is currently 47.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total value of $352,723.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $84.00 price target (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. TD Securities cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $109.19.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.

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