Ballew Advisors Inc Sells 262 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Ballew Advisors Inc reduced its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 8.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,973 shares of the company’s stock after selling 262 shares during the period. Ballew Advisors Inc’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 83.7% during the fourth quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $643,707.28. This trade represents a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a 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 report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price objective (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $81.74 on Friday. 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. has a one year low of $73.31 and a one year high of $134.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $205.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.15, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.38. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $89.44.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 26.67% and a return on equity of 45.35%. The firm had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.07 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 47.16%.

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.