U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 27.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor 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 reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 1st quarter worth $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $84.00 target price (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a 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 report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 17th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $109.19.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 2.9%

NYSE MRK traded up $2.37 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $83.74. The company had a trading volume of 18,390,570 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,340,524. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $79.09 and a 200 day moving average of $86.73. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $73.31 and a 1-year high of $129.93. 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 market capitalization of $210.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.07 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.'s revenue for the quarter 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.87%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.