Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 55.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,636 shares of the company's stock after selling 4,613 shares during the quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $361,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. AM Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter worth about $34,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MRK shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Bank of America restated a "buy" rating and issued a $121.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. HSBC upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $136.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $123.67.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Merck & Co., Inc.
Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 2.7 %
NYSE MRK traded down $2.70 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $98.00. 15,879,862 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,381,323. The stock has a market capitalization of $247.91 billion, a PE ratio of 20.55, a PEG 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. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $94.48 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $100.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $109.85.
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business's revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.92%.
Merck & Co., Inc. Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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