Paloma Partners Management Co Reduces Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Paloma Partners Management Co lessened its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 92.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,017 shares of the company’s stock after selling 48,563 shares during the quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $456,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,876.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,971,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,450,000 after acquiring an additional 2,946,742 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $308,782,000 after acquiring an additional 2,473,346 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 68.7% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,388,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $611,924,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194,463 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 38.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,530,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $855,119,000 after acquiring an additional 2,095,694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 230.8% during the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,807,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $347,622,000 after acquiring an additional 1,959,152 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. Daiwa America downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.80.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

MRK stock opened at $101.38 on Thursday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $94.48 and a one year high of $134.63. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $104.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $116.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The company has a market capitalization of $256.45 billion, a PE ratio of 21.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

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 under the Keytruda, Bridion, Adempas, Lagevrio, Belsomra, Simponi, and Januvia brands, as well as vaccine products consisting of preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines under the Gardasil/Gardasil 9, ProQuad, M-M-R II, Varivax, RotaTeq, Live Oral, Vaxneuvance, Pneumovax 23, and Vaqta names.