Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Sold by Allied Investment Advisors LLC

Allied Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 30.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,069 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,125 shares during the quarter. Allied Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $635,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.3% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 68,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,137,000 after purchasing an additional 2,212 shares during the last quarter. Stolper Co raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% in the first quarter. Stolper Co now owns 26,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,366,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% in the first quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 370,222 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,231,000 after purchasing an additional 6,390 shares during the last quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% in the first quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. now owns 162,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,610,000 after purchasing an additional 920 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investors Research Corp raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% in the first quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 9,205 shares of the company’s stock worth $826,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total transaction of $352,723.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.6%

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $76.86 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $193.00 billion, a PE ratio of 11.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.43. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $73.31 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $90.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $15.53 billion during 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%. The business’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.07 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. TD Securities cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wall Street Zen cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $113.00 to $106.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $118.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.19.

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.