SNS Financial Group LLC Sells 134 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

SNS Financial Group LLC reduced its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,419 shares of the company’s stock after selling 134 shares during the quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $853,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 35,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,195,000 after buying an additional 764 shares during the period. Brogan Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter worth approximately $263,000. St. Louis Trust Co boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. St. Louis Trust Co now owns 15,488 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,390,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Willner & Heller LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Willner & Heller LLC now owns 8,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $720,000 after buying an additional 231 shares during the period. Finally, FLC Capital Advisors boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 79,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,145,000 after buying an additional 580 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total value of $352,723.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 7,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $643,707.28. This represents a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on MRK. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 price target (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $1.55 during trading on Friday, hitting $79.97. The stock had a trading volume of 11,654,241 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,476,747. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $73.31 and a 12 month high of $128.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The company has a market capitalization of $200.81 billion, a PE ratio of 11.64, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $79.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.89.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $15.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 27.27% and a return on equity of 43.23%. The business’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.07 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.16%.

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.