Home Federal Bank of Tennessee Sells 823 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Home Federal Bank of Tennessee lowered its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,940 shares of the company’s stock after selling 823 shares during the period. Home Federal Bank of Tennessee’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,431,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $365,000. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 38,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,808,000 after purchasing an additional 8,710 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,350,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,990,000. Finally, Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 13,987 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,391,000 after buying an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. TD Cowen downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price target (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. One 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of MRK opened at $79.30 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $199.12 billion, a PE ratio of 11.78, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $73.31 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $78.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $89.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. The firm 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.07 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 47.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total value of $352,723.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company 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.