Royal Fund Management LLC Purchases 861 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Royal Fund Management LLC lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,394 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 861 shares during the quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,552,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. AM Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets cut Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $136.00 to $105.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Daiwa America cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of 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. HSBC raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $98.00 on Tuesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $94.48 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The firm has a market cap of $247.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50-day moving average of $100.01 and a 200 day moving average of $109.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

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