Sarasin & Partners LLP Has $88.39 Million Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Sarasin & Partners LLP cut its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Free Report) by 52.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 888,501 shares of the company's stock after selling 995,784 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up about 1.0% of Sarasin & Partners LLP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Sarasin & Partners LLP's holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $88,388,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 199,829 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,739,000 after buying an additional 7,641 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 788.1% during the second 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 period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.3% in 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 during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in 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 period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $121.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Daiwa America cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $136.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating 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 given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $2.70 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $98.00. The company had a trading volume of 15,879,862 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,381,323. 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 has a market capitalization of $247.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $100.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $109.61. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $94.48 and a 12-month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share 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 in the prior year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.'s payout ratio is 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.