Chicago Capital LLC Buys 161 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Chicago Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 25,308 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Chicago Capital LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,518,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lynch Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Lynch Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $796,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 52.7% during the 4th quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $641,000 after acquiring an additional 2,226 shares during the last quarter. McAdam LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 18,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,857,000 after purchasing an additional 713 shares during the period. Jacobsen Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Jacobsen Capital Management now owns 3,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 103,434 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,290,000 after buying an additional 1,973 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE MRK opened at $98.80 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $249.93 billion, a PE ratio of 20.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $94.48 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $99.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.67. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, January 28th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 4.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $136.00 to $105.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.