Veery Capital LLC Has $242,000 Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Veery Capital LLC reduced its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,694 shares of the company’s stock after selling 133 shares during the quarter. Veery Capital LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $242,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Stolper Co lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% in the first quarter. Stolper Co now owns 26,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,366,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% in the first quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 370,222 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,231,000 after acquiring an additional 6,390 shares during the last quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% in the first quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. now owns 162,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,610,000 after acquiring an additional 920 shares during the last quarter. Investors Research Corp lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% in the first quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 9,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $826,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Hampshire Trust lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.9% in the first quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 52,803 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,740,000 after acquiring an additional 3,427 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 now owns 7,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $76.86 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $193.00 billion, a PE ratio of 11.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $80.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $90.63. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $73.31 and a 52-week high of $134.63.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $118.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $105.00 to $96.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. 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. TD Cowen lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, TD Securities lowered shares of 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.19.

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.