Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Acquired by Sonora Investment Management Group LLC

Sonora Investment Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 175,797 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,087 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up about 1.2% of Sonora Investment Management Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $15,780,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Napatree Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Napatree Capital LLC now owns 4,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $420,000 after buying an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter worth $2,080,000. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 8,461 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 102.2% in the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 45,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,482,000 after buying an additional 22,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,477,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $146,546,000 after buying an additional 189,540 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen downgraded 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. 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research report 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 report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, TD Securities downgraded 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $79.30 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.69. The company has a market cap of $199.12 billion, a PE ratio of 11.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $15.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 26.67% and a return on equity of 45.35%. The business’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.07 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business 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 $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.16%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.