Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Bought by Sky Investment Group LLC

Sky Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 81,445 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,514 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up approximately 1.5% of Sky Investment Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $8,102,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealthquest Corp increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Wealthquest Corp now owns 16,619 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,653,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 32,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,222,000 after purchasing an additional 3,407 shares during the period. Gemmer Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 27.5% during the fourth quarter. Gemmer Asset Management LLC now owns 3,940 shares of the company’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 849 shares in the last quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 23,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,330,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zhang Financial LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 22,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,237,000 after buying an additional 4,116 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on MRK shares. UBS Group reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. HSBC raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $136.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $98.00 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $100.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.61. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $94.48 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $247.91 billion, a PE ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.81 dividend. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.