564 Shares in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Bought by Decker Retirement Planning Inc.

Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Occidental Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 14,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 409.7% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC now owns 131,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,123,000 after purchasing an additional 106,038 shares during the period. Central Valley Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 18,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,879,000 after purchasing an additional 1,471 shares during the period. Bennett Associates Wealth Management grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Bennett Associates Wealth Management now owns 2,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the period. Finally, Cohen Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $457,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK opened at $100.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $100.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $110.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $254.80 billion, a PE ratio of 21.12, a PEG ratio of 1.17 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.81 dividend. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Daiwa Capital Markets cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Leerink Partners reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.