Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt Cuts Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt decreased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 43.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 19,677 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,120 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,779,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Accurate Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.5% during the first quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,555,000 after purchasing an additional 1,652 shares in the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 991.7% in the 1st quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 33,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,997,000 after buying an additional 30,335 shares during the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.7% in the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 21,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,892,000 after buying an additional 2,201 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 48,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,332,000 after buying an additional 5,337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cardinal Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 15.5% in the 1st quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 266,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,931,000 after buying an additional 35,754 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MRK. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 target price (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. TD Securities downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $643,707.28. This represents a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK opened at $79.30 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $73.31 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $199.12 billion, a PE ratio of 11.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.38. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $78.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 45.35% and a net margin of 26.67%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.07 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.09%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 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.