Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. Has $870,000 Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. lessened its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,695 shares of the company’s stock after selling 494 shares during the period. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $870,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tallon Kerry Patrick acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $365,000. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 38,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,808,000 after buying an additional 8,710 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth about $26,350,000. Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 140,512 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,978,000 after buying an additional 1,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 566,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,309,000 after purchasing an additional 6,197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Transactions at Merck & Co., Inc.

In other news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $78.36 on Wednesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.31 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $78.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $88.89. The company has a market capitalization of $196.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $15.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.07 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.13%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.16%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.