Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV Sells 1,979 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV reduced its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 13.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 13,302 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,979 shares during the quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,194,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 251,096,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,979,041,000 after acquiring an additional 1,292,192 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 80,742,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,032,217,000 after acquiring an additional 4,932,647 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,181,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,072,582,000 after acquiring an additional 2,026,859 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,479,799,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 31,377,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,121,395,000 after acquiring an additional 4,511,742 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total transaction of $352,723.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,778 shares in the company, valued at $643,707.28. This represents a 35.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of MRK opened at $78.95 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $198.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.73, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.43. 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 fifty-two week low of $73.31 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $79.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $89.96.

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 net margin of 26.67% and a return on equity of 45.35%. The company had revenue of $15.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.07 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.10%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on MRK. TD Cowen lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. TD Securities lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $121.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 target price (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.19.

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.