Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. Reduces Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 9.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 234,239 shares of the company's stock after selling 25,180 shares during the period. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $28,999,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aveo Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,515 shares of the company's stock valued at $710,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 85.5% during the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 13,930 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,436,000 after purchasing an additional 6,421 shares during the period. Calton & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $445,000. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,955 shares of the company's stock worth $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arcataur Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Arcataur Capital Management LLC now owns 3,611 shares of the company's stock valued at $394,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on MRK. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $148.00 to $142.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America decreased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $134.58.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE MRK traded down $0.75 during trading on Friday, hitting $117.84. 8,577,276 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,621,607. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $119.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $125.09. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $99.14 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The firm has a market cap of $298.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 130.97, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.87 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 40.69% and a net margin of 21.99%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($2.06) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.'s payout ratio is 342.22%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co, Inc operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, and diabetes under the Keytruda, Bridion, Adempas, Lagevrio, Belsomra, Simponi, and Januvia brands, as well as vaccine products consisting of preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines under the Gardasil/Gardasil 9, ProQuad, M-M-R II, Varivax, RotaTeq, Live Oral, Vaxneuvance, Pneumovax 23, and Vaqta names.