Riverbend Wealth Management LLC Has $1.21 Million Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Riverbend Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 84.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,493 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 6,178 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for about 1.1% of Riverbend Wealth Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Riverbend Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,211,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Brighton Jones LLC boosted 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 buying an additional 8,710 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 27,181 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,704,000 after buying an additional 2,741 shares during the period. Wrapmanager Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 7,603 shares of the company's stock valued at $756,000 after buying an additional 845 shares during the period. Stack Financial Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Stack Financial Management Inc now owns 225,340 shares of the company's stock valued at $22,417,000 after buying an additional 1,064 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 24,213,537 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,408,763,000 after buying an additional 5,550,824 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,778 shares in the company, valued at $643,707.28. The trade was 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 hyperlink. Insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on MRK shares. 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 report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $80.38 on Wednesday. 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 firm's fifty day moving average price is $78.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.11. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $73.31 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.38.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 27.27% and a return on equity of 43.23%. The firm had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.07 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.16%.

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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