Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Position Increased by KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC

KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 39.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,213 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 14,161 shares during the quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,995,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth approximately $1,207,000. Sienna Gestion raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 55,039 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,811,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares in the last quarter. Miramar Capital LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Miramar Capital LLC now owns 78,293 shares of the company's stock worth $9,693,000 after acquiring an additional 844 shares during the period. Garner Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.6% during the second quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp now owns 7,893 shares of the company's stock valued at $977,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares during the period. Finally, Mittelman Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 57.8% during the second quarter. Mittelman Wealth Management now owns 5,638 shares of the company's stock valued at $698,000 after purchasing an additional 2,066 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on MRK. HSBC raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Leerink Partners dropped their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Citigroup cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued 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.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 2.4 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded down $2.45 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $98.25. The stock had a trading volume of 8,788,476 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,857,562. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $94.48 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market cap of $248.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.62, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $100.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $110.12.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.81 dividend. This is an increase 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 dividend yield of 3.30%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.92%.

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.