Kera Capital Partners Inc. Purchases Shares of 3,570 Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Kera Capital Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,570 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $355,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the second quarter worth $1,207,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 199,829 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,739,000 after purchasing an additional 7,641 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,584,209 shares of the company's stock valued at $196,127,000 after purchasing an additional 28,185 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.6% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,775,307 shares of the company's stock valued at $219,784,000 after purchasing an additional 61,677 shares during the period. Finally, Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% during the second quarter. Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC now owns 20,102 shares of the company's stock worth $2,476,000 after buying an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Leerink Partners reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Guggenheim lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup cut their price target on 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. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $2.70 on Friday, reaching $98.00. 15,879,862 shares of the company traded hands, 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 P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. 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 current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a 50 day moving average of $100.01 and a 200 day moving average of $109.72.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during 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%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.