Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stock Position Raised by Grimes & Company Inc.

Grimes & Company Inc. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 21,658 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the period. Grimes & Company Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,155,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. AM Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on MRK. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $123.00 to $113.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Daiwa America cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $136.00 to $105.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $95.54 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $99.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $108.81. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $94.48 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company 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 released its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. This is a positive change 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 is presently 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.