Boston Trust Walden Corp Sells 30,447 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Boston Trust Walden Corp lessened its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.8% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 603,176 shares of the company’s stock after selling 30,447 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $54,141,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 83.7% in the fourth quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Merck & Co., Inc.

In related news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $643,707.28. This represents a 35.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.3%

NYSE:MRK opened at $79.26 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $78.85 and a 200-day moving average of $88.82. The company has a market cap of $199.03 billion, a PE ratio of 11.54, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $73.31 and a one year high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $15.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.59 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 43.23% and a net margin of 27.27%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.07 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 4.09%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 47.16%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MRK. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reaffirmed 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. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.