Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Position Trimmed by Phillips Wealth Planners LLC

Phillips Wealth Planners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 61.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,110 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,882 shares during the period. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $279,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,479,799,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 80,742,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,032,217,000 after buying an additional 4,932,647 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 31,377,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,121,395,000 after buying an additional 4,511,742 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 63.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,577,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,151,642,000 after buying an additional 4,480,007 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9,991.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,332,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $388,880,000 after buying an additional 4,289,516 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered 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 research note on Friday, April 25th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 price objective (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.19.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total value of $352,723.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,778 shares in the company, valued at $643,707.28. This trade represents a 35.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $79.74 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $79.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $88.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $200.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.31 and a 12-month high of $133.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.06. The business 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%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.07 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. 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 4.06%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.16%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.