Princeton Global Asset Management LLC Has $843,000 Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Princeton Global Asset Management LLC cut its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 30.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 9,394 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,093 shares during the period. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $843,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Napatree Capital LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Napatree Capital LLC now owns 4,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $420,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the period. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at $2,080,000. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 17.7% in the 4th quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC now owns 56,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,601,000 after acquiring an additional 8,461 shares during the last quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 102.2% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 45,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,482,000 after purchasing an additional 22,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 632,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,907,000 after acquiring an additional 10,332 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In related news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total transaction of $352,723.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,778 shares of the company’s stock, 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 at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $78.95 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 $198.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.43. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $89.96.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.07 EPS. Analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Investors 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 yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 47.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on MRK shares. TD Cowen cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. TD Securities downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.19.

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.