Raymond James Trust N.A. Increases Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 328,405 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,171 shares during the quarter. Merck & Co., Inc. comprises about 0.8% of Raymond James Trust N.A.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Raymond James Trust N.A.'s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $37,294,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MRK. AlphaCore Capital LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the third quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 29,300 shares of the company's stock worth $3,349,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281 shares during the last quarter. 49 Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 33.3% in the third quarter. 49 Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,261 shares of the company's stock valued at $711,000 after buying an additional 1,565 shares in the last quarter. HealthInvest Partners AB increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 37.2% in the third quarter. HealthInvest Partners AB now owns 154,699 shares of the company's stock valued at $17,568,000 after buying an additional 41,965 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% during 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 buying an additional 514,060 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 116,777 shares of the company's stock worth $13,244,000 after buying an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:MRK traded down $0.85 on Friday, hitting $99.01. 8,495,010 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,994,314. The stock has a market cap of $250.46 billion, a PE ratio of 21.20, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.40. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $107.44 and a 200-day moving average of $118.12.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.'s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile

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.