Jackson Square Capital LLC Decreases Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Jackson Square Capital LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 71.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,164 shares of the company's stock after selling 15,684 shares during the quarter. Jackson Square Capital LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $613,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC now owns 4,541 shares of the company's stock valued at $516,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Constitution Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.1% during the third quarter. Constitution Capital LLC now owns 4,950 shares of the company's stock valued at $562,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. E&G Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.7% in the third quarter. E&G Advisors LP now owns 14,698 shares of the company's stock worth $1,669,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 22,474 shares of the company's stock worth $2,552,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shayne & Jacobs LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Shayne & Jacobs LLC now owns 5,611 shares of the company's stock worth $637,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $2.70 during midday 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 company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $247.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $100.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $109.72. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $94.48 and a twelve month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The firm's revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 EPS 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. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.81 dividend. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on MRK. Barclays dropped 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 note on Monday, October 7th. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on 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. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Hsbc Global Res raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $123.67.

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.