Emprise Bank Sells 1,757 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Emprise Bank cut its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 18.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,608 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,757 shares during the period. Emprise Bank’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $757,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. AM Squared Ltd bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at $39,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Leerink Partners dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Barclays lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. HSBC upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Daiwa America cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $1.50 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $100.75. 2,417,392 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,906,375. 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 cap of $254.86 billion, a PE ratio of 21.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $100.18 and a 200-day moving average of $110.57. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $94.48 and a 12 month high of $134.63.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.92%.

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.