Old North State Trust LLC Sells 6,155 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Old North State Trust LLC reduced its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 37.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,476 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,155 shares during the period. Old North State Trust LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,115,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 68,563,817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,294,504,000 after purchasing an additional 6,546,946 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,218,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,438,036,000 after purchasing an additional 2,879,481 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 41,850,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,643,267,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000,816 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 103,159.7% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 39,327,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,363,385,000 after purchasing an additional 39,289,404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 30.2% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 35,734,925 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,801,839,000 after buying an additional 8,281,942 shares during the last quarter. 74.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 4,500 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.49, for a total transaction of $474,705.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,867,745.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $107.47 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $107.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $110.35. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.52 and a 1 year high of $119.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $272.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.09, a P/E/G ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The company reported ($2.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.18) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 5.34% and a return on equity of 16.29%. The company had revenue of $15.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.87 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.73 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 239.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday, July 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $123.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $109.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $102.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 31st. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “a-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Friday, September 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $124.74.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co, Inc operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, and diabetes, as well as vaccine products, such as preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines.