Harrell Investment Partners LLC Grows Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Harrell Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 59,487 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,232 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for approximately 1.6% of Harrell Investment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Harrell Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 price objective (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. One equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $79.26 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $199.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.38. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.82. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $73.31 and a 12 month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $15.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 43.23% and a net margin of 27.27%. The firm’s quarterly 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 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

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

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.