Apeiron RIA LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Apeiron RIA LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 33.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,123 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 782 shares during the period. Apeiron RIA LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $311,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 75,809,383 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,608,914,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,404 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,876.3% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 157.9% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 4,264,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $484,231,000 after purchasing an additional 2,610,800 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 68.7% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,388,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $611,924,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194,463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,155,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,696,060,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,296 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered 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 report on Friday, December 20th. 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. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $121.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $123.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $96.57 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $244.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.24, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $99.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $109.11. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63. 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. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 a boost 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 3.36%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.92%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.