Virtue Capital Management LLC Has $994,000 Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Virtue Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,751 shares of the company’s stock after selling 240 shares during the period. Virtue Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $994,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 519,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,947,000 after purchasing an additional 12,940 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,898,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 102,399 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,593,000 after purchasing an additional 7,544 shares during the last quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 25,231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,865,000 after purchasing an additional 2,904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,155,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,696,060,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,296 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.20.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $101.03 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $255.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $104.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $94.48 and a 52-week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 64.57%.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.