Avanza Fonder AB Lowers Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Avanza Fonder AB lowered its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 14.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 234,452 shares of the company’s stock after selling 39,001 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for about 0.7% of Avanza Fonder AB’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Avanza Fonder AB’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $20,304,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 251,096,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,979,041,000 after purchasing an additional 1,292,192 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 80,742,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,032,217,000 after purchasing an additional 4,932,647 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,181,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,072,582,000 after purchasing an additional 2,026,859 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $3,479,799,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 31,377,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,121,395,000 after acquiring an additional 4,511,742 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of several research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 target price (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.19.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total value 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 represents a 35.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $79.30 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $78.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $89.69. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $73.31 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $199.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.07 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.09%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 47.16%.

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.