Mayfair Advisory Group LLC Acquires 464 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Mayfair Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,389 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 464 shares during the period. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $536,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. 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 purchasing an additional 2,473,346 shares during the period. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter valued at about $555,000. Excalibur Management Corp increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% during the second quarter. Excalibur Management Corp now owns 48,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,013,000 after acquiring an additional 387 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 145,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,983,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,207,000. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $99.70 on Wednesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $252.20 billion, a PE ratio of 20.90, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.39. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $100.13 and its 200-day moving average is $110.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly 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. The business 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.13 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Guggenheim cut their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $136.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. 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 report on Friday, October 25th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $123.67.

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.