Paragon Financial Partners Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Paragon Financial Partners Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 11.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,080 shares of the company’s stock after selling 403 shares during the period. Paragon Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $276,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.0% during the first quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 615,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,253,000 after purchasing an additional 61,003 shares during the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,135 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,269,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the period. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 44,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,969,000 after buying an additional 2,228 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 145,434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,054,000 after buying an additional 605 shares during the period. Finally, Fortress Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter valued at $254,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $84.00 price objective (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. 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. Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $78.95 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $198.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.43. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $73.31 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $89.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 26.67% and a return on equity of 45.35%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.07 EPS. Research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the business’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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $643,707.28. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.