West Branch Capital LLC Has $2.25 Million Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

West Branch Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 15.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 25,016 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,349 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at $3,479,799,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.7% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 5,550,824 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 80,742,030 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,032,217,000 after purchasing an additional 4,932,647 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 31,377,107 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,121,395,000 after purchasing an additional 4,511,742 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 63.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,577,535 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,151,642,000 after purchasing an additional 4,480,007 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on MRK. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $84.00 price target (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $109.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the business's 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $81.68. The company had a trading volume of 14,549,536 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,873,348. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $205.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.38. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.20. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $73.31 and a 1-year high of $134.63.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.97%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.