U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 7,154 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 27.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 32,888 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 7,154 shares during the quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,952,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Financial Counselors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 705,128 shares of the company's stock worth $63,292,000 after purchasing an additional 86,651 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 15,015 shares of the company's stock worth $1,348,000 after purchasing an additional 1,353 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 78,174 shares of the company's stock worth $7,017,000 after purchasing an additional 9,258 shares during the period. BOCHK Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth about $160,000. Finally, OLD Republic International Corp increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. OLD Republic International Corp now owns 613,600 shares of the company's stock worth $55,077,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 7,778 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $643,707.28. This trade 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 accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MRK shares. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $84.00 target price (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $108.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK stock traded up $0.35 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $84.06. 14,718,254 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,408,952. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $129.93. The stock's fifty day moving average is $79.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.71. The company has a market cap of $211.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

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 return on equity of 43.23% and a net margin of 27.27%. The business had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.07 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.