Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. Decreases Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,410 shares of the company’s stock after selling 658 shares during the period. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $845,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA now owns 5,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $481,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the period. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,197 shares of the company’s stock valued at $466,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Tilson Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Tilson Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,965 shares of the company’s stock valued at $446,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. Perkins Coie Trust Co boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% in the first quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 6,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $540,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forza Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% in the first quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,761 shares of the company’s stock valued at $966,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on MRK shares. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $97.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 target price (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.44.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock opened at $79.27 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $199.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.21, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $73.31 and a twelve month high of $120.30. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 41.63% and a net margin of 25.79%. The business had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.92 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 49.92%.

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.