Simon Quick Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Simon Quick Advisors LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 15.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,250 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,326 shares during the quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,548,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MRK. Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $365,000. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 38,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,808,000 after purchasing an additional 8,710 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,350,000. Focus Financial Network Inc. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.6% during the 4th quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 13,498 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,354,000 after buying an additional 2,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sovran Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $365,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on MRK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $128.00 to $105.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price target (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.3%

MRK opened at $80.26 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $89.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $73.31 and a one year high of $134.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. The business had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.07 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.04%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the 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 $643,707.28. This represents a 35.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.