UMB Bank n.a. Sells 65,557 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

UMB Bank n.a. lowered its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 28.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 166,153 shares of the company's stock after selling 65,557 shares during the quarter. UMB Bank n.a.'s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $16,529,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.0% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 199,829 shares of the company's stock worth $24,739,000 after buying an additional 7,641 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 788.1% during the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 176,849 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,894,000 after acquiring an additional 156,935 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.0% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 112,056 shares of the company's stock worth $13,873,000 after purchasing an additional 8,269 shares in the last quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.3% during the second quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 9,982 shares of the company's stock worth $1,236,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.1% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 521,653 shares of the company's stock worth $64,581,000 after purchasing an additional 34,574 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of 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. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, HSBC raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. 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 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $98.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,879,862 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,381,323. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $94.48 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $247.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a P/E/G 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. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $100.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.61.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.13 EPS. On average, 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s payout ratio 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.