Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc Reduces Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc trimmed its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 31.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 155,381 shares of the company's stock after selling 71,125 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $14,568,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MRK. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MRK shares. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a 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 report on Wednesday, May 14th. One research 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $109.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 7,778 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of MRK traded down $1.42 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $80.97. 7,734,538 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,256,132. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.18. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.31 and a 52 week high of $129.93. The company has a market cap of $203.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.79, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. The business 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 27.27% and a return on equity of 43.23%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.07 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio is 47.16%.

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.