Hemenway Trust Co LLC Has $828,000 Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Hemenway Trust Co LLC cut its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,229 shares of the company’s stock after selling 695 shares during the quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $828,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 83.7% in the 4th quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 316 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MRK shares. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 price objective (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 3.2%

Shares of MRK stock opened at $78.36 on Wednesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $73.31 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.41. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $196.77 billion, a PE ratio of 11.41, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.38.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.07 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio 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.