Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Sells 1,006 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC trimmed its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 30,767 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,006 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,061,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1,475.6% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 35,057 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 32,832 shares during the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 47,581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,891,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,100,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $383,839,000 after buying an additional 390,639 shares during the last quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% during the second quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 3,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $434,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 61.4% in the second quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 25,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,141,000 after acquiring an additional 9,648 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on MRK. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. HSBC raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $121.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $124.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $0.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $100.07. 2,479,094 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,347,462. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $100.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $111.10. The firm has a market cap of $253.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.98, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.