Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Buys 35,525 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,902,509 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 35,525 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Merck & Co., Inc. worth $189,262,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 119,026,412 shares of the company's stock worth $13,606,360,000 after buying an additional 1,536,474 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 75,809,383 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,608,914,000 after acquiring an additional 3,327,404 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,155,004 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,696,060,000 after acquiring an additional 2,134,296 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,807,293 shares of the company's stock worth $2,135,785,000 after acquiring an additional 514,060 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 17,756,021 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,016,374,000 after acquiring an additional 309,656 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set a "peer perform" rating for the company. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Hsbc Global Res raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $136.00 to $105.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $123.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of MRK stock traded up $0.89 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $96.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,512,593 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,553,397. The company has a market cap of $244.28 billion, a PE ratio of 20.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 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. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $99.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $109.11. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research 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 dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. 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 payout ratio is 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.