Capital Investment Counsel LLC Buys 1,475 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Capital Investment Counsel LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,650 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,475 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $6,206,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.1% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 55,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,332,000 after acquiring an additional 5,088 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 10,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,351,000 after buying an additional 1,048 shares during the last quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 20.6% during the 1st quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC now owns 10,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,416,000 after buying an additional 1,834 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LP acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,829,000. Finally, Ashford Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.3% in the first quarter. Ashford Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,022,000 after buying an additional 4,950 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of MRK stock opened at $99.18 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $94.48 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The stock has a market cap of $250.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $107.11 and a 200 day moving average of $117.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

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

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MRK. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. 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.