Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 59.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,701 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,492 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $965,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 16,049,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,759,800,000 after buying an additional 1,836,505 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.6% in the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 63,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,211,000 after acquiring an additional 8,985 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,807,293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,135,785,000 after purchasing an additional 514,060 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,837,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $208,649,000 after purchasing an additional 62,047 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.3% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,102,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,204,000 after purchasing an additional 34,715 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MRK. UBS Group decreased 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. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $126.57.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MRK traded up $1.81 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $101.53. 4,703,107 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,678,533. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $100.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $111.47. The company has a market cap of $256.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.29, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $94.48 and a 52-week high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced 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 business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 67.92%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.