City State Bank Has $1.43 Million Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

City State Bank raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 19.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 14,327 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,331 shares during the quarter. City State Bank’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,425,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 75,809,383 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,608,914,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,404 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,876.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,971,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,450,000 after acquiring an additional 2,946,742 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 157.9% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 4,264,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $484,231,000 after acquiring an additional 2,610,800 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,860.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,494,199 shares of the company’s stock worth $308,782,000 after acquiring an additional 2,473,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 68.7% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,388,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $611,924,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194,463 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on MRK shares. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of 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. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. BMO Capital Markets cut Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $136.00 to $105.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Leerink Partners decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK traded up $0.58 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $99.83. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,482,120 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,765,870. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $94.48 and a one year high of $134.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $252.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $100.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $110.57.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.