Demars Financial Group LLC Sells 84,706 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Demars Financial Group LLC lessened its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 13.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 567,525 shares of the company’s stock after selling 84,706 shares during the quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $50,941,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tallon Kerry Patrick acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $365,000. Brighton Jones LLC grew 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 acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $26,350,000. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 144,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,408,000 after purchasing an additional 9,767 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 31.8% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 91,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,731,000 after purchasing an additional 22,006 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on MRK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Wall Street Zen lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 target price (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK opened at $80.97 on Tuesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $73.31 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.31 billion, a PE ratio of 12.03, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.96.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. The business had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.07 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total transaction of $352,723.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.