LVW Advisors LLC Acquires 2,653 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

LVW Advisors LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 33.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,473 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,653 shares during the quarter. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,042,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eldred Rock Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Eldred Rock Partners LLC now owns 102,848 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,184,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. City Holding Co. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 23,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,324,000 after acquiring an additional 635 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 15,288 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,521,000 after acquiring an additional 812 shares in the last quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,788,000. Finally, Liberty One Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 36,247 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,606,000 after acquiring an additional 3,916 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. HSBC upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Daiwa America lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Citigroup cut 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 2.7 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $98.00 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a market capitalization of $247.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $100.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $109.72.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s 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.