BLB&B Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

BLB&B Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.1% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 44,513 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,392 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,996,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. RKL Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 28.3% during the 1st quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,291 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,193,000 after purchasing an additional 2,930 shares during the period. Rovin Capital UT ADV grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 3,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the period. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 128.5% during the 1st quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 5,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $456,000 after purchasing an additional 2,855 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 65.0% during the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 42,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,809,000 after purchasing an additional 16,721 shares during the period. Finally, Alta Advisers Ltd grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 50.1% during the 1st quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd now owns 12,584 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,130,000 after purchasing an additional 4,200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. 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. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 target price (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $79.19 on Tuesday. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.39. The company has a market cap of $198.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.53, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 27.27% and a return on equity of 43.23%. The business’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.07 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.09%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 47.16%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The stock was 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 directly owned 7,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.