Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. Sells 5,854 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 69,411 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,854 shares during the quarter. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $6,905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 16,049,161 shares of the company's stock worth $1,759,800,000 after acquiring an additional 1,836,505 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.6% in the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 63,101 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,211,000 after purchasing an additional 8,985 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,807,293 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,135,785,000 after purchasing an additional 514,060 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,837,354 shares of the company's stock valued at $208,649,000 after buying an additional 62,047 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,102,540 shares of the company's stock valued at $125,204,000 after buying an additional 34,715 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MRK shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Leerink Partners cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Daiwa America lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $2.70 on Friday, hitting $98.00. 15,879,862 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,381,323. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $94.48 and a 12-month high of $134.63. 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 market cap of $247.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $100.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $109.72.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s payout ratio is currently 67.92%.

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.