Strategic Investment Advisors MI Trims Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Strategic Investment Advisors MI reduced its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 15.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,520 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,545 shares during the quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $848,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter worth $409,000. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter valued at $237,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 35.3% in the 2nd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,498 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,300,000 after acquiring an additional 2,741 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter valued at $325,000. Finally, Creative Planning increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 867,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,360,000 after acquiring an additional 40,668 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Leerink Partners cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Guggenheim cut their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Daiwa America downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $95.54 on Monday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $99.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $108.69. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $94.48 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $241.69 billion, a PE ratio of 20.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. 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 (DPR) 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.