Kingfisher Capital LLC Purchases 130 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Kingfisher Capital LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,706 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Kingfisher Capital LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $648,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 48,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,459,000 after buying an additional 3,970 shares during the period. Centric Wealth Management grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.6% in the third quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 23,828 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,706,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares during the period. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.9% in the third quarter. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,114,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter valued at $558,000. Finally, Isthmus Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 3rd quarter worth about $206,000. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Daiwa Capital Markets cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. 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. Guggenheim cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Daiwa America downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $103.12 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $105.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $117.15. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $94.48 and a 12 month high of $134.63. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $260.86 billion, a PE ratio of 21.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.40.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. 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 dividend yield of 3.14%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.57%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.