Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC Sells 99,340 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 82.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 21,149 shares of the company’s stock after selling 99,340 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,898,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Simplicity Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 991.7% in the first quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 33,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,997,000 after buying an additional 30,335 shares in the last quarter. Napatree Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Napatree Capital LLC now owns 4,220 shares of the company’s stock valued at $420,000 after buying an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 34.3% during the 4th quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 73,468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,309,000 after purchasing an additional 18,775 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 34.2% during the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 102,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,229,000 after purchasing an additional 25,997 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Altrius Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 45,306 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,507,000 after purchasing an additional 6,378 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In related news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the company’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 value of $352,723.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,778 shares in the company, valued at $643,707.28. This represents a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on MRK. Wall Street Zen downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price target (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.4%

MRK stock opened at $80.15 on Tuesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.31 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $88.16. The company has a market cap of $201.26 billion, a PE ratio of 11.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.38.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 43.23% and a net margin of 27.27%. The firm had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.07 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.