Commonwealth Financial Services LLC Decreases Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Commonwealth Financial Services LLC cut its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 8.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,963 shares of the company’s stock after selling 521 shares during the period. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $535,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 38,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,808,000 after buying an additional 8,710 shares during the last quarter. American Assets Inc. purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at $398,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,381,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,445,000 after buying an additional 295,758 shares during the last quarter. Greenland Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at $362,000. Finally, Texas Yale Capital Corp. grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 40,688 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,048,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $79.41 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The company has a market capitalization of $199.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $80.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.25. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $73.31 and a one year high of $120.30.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.10. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 25.79% and a return on equity of 41.63%. The firm had revenue of $15.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.92 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently 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 report on Friday, April 25th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 target price (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.44.

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.