Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. Has $233,000 Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. decreased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Rating) by 93.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 184 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,716 shares during the quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $233,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sheets Smith Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management now owns 24,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,896,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 33.9% during the 4th quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC now owns 517 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. First Interstate Bank raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. First Interstate Bank now owns 8,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $653,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.4% in the third quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $720,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital City Trust Co. FL grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL now owns 3,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. 72.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shares of NYSE MRK traded up $0.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $93.08. The stock had a trading volume of 9,801,988 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,195,807. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $86.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.20. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $70.89 and a 1 year high of $94.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market cap of $235.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.37.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 28th. The company reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $15.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.64 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 26.27% and a return on equity of 47.86%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is 49.37%.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MRK. StockNews.com began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 28th. SVB Leerink cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $100.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 21st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 12th. Finally, Mizuho started coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Friday, April 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $100.00 price target for the company. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $90.69.

About Merck & Co., Inc. (Get Rating)

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, as well as vaccine products, such as preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines.

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