Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. Sells 494 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. cut its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,695 shares of the company’s stock after selling 494 shares during the quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $870,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wendell David Associates Inc. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.4% during the first quarter. Wendell David Associates Inc. now owns 54,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,929,000 after acquiring an additional 4,740 shares in the last quarter. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 23.9% during the 1st quarter. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co now owns 52,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,748,000 after purchasing an additional 10,216 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 15.2% during the first quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 3,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,000 after buying an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Bfsg LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.9% in the first quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 34,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,068,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lesa Sroufe & Co bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth approximately $458,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock opened at $78.36 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $196.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.41, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $78.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $88.89. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $73.31 and a 52-week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 27.27% and a return on equity of 43.23%. The business had revenue of $15.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.07 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price target (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.19.

Insider Activity

In related 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $643,707.28. This trade represents a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.