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

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

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1,475.6% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 35,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 32,832 shares in the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. grew 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 worth $5,891,000 after buying an additional 607 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 14.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,100,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $383,839,000 after acquiring an additional 390,639 shares in the last quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 3,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $434,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the period. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 61.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on MRK shares. Daiwa America lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eight 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $124.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of MRK stock traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $100.07. 2,479,094 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,347,462. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $100.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $111.10. The stock has a market cap of $253.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.98, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $94.48 and a 12-month high of $134.63. 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. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.81 dividend. This is a positive change 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 3.24%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s 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.