Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Trading Down 1.8% - What's Next?

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) dropped 1.8% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $79.28 and last traded at $79.54. Approximately 2,950,784 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 12,833,812 shares. The stock had previously closed at $80.96.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. 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 Merck & Co., Inc. from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $84.00 price target (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The stock has a market cap of $197.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.38. The business's 50-day moving average price is $78.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $88.96.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.07 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s payout ratio is presently 47.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total value of $352,723.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,778 shares in the company, valued at $643,707.28. This represents a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Merck & Co., Inc.

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 252,513,381 shares of the company's stock valued at $22,665,601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,417,274 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 81,669,651 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,330,668,000 after acquiring an additional 927,621 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,181,863 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,072,582,000 after purchasing an additional 2,026,859 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 144.6% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,229,283 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,418,820,000 after buying an additional 29,104,112 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,479,799,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

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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