Empirical Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Empirical Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 409.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 131,919 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 106,038 shares during the quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $13,123,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 75,809,383 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,608,914,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,404 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,876.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,971,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,450,000 after purchasing an additional 2,946,742 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 157.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 68.7% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,388,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $611,924,000 after buying an additional 2,194,463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in 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 valued at $6,696,060,000 after buying an additional 2,134,296 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on MRK. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of 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. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $136.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Daiwa America cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. One equities research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.6 %

MRK stock opened at $100.72 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $254.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The business’s 50-day moving average is $100.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $110.12. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $94.48 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63.

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 the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. As a group, 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 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.