Sawyer & Company Inc Sells 1,908 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Sawyer & Company Inc lessened its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 9.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 17,473 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,908 shares during the period. Sawyer & Company Inc’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 9,827 shares of the company’s stock worth $978,000 after buying an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 186,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,504,000 after acquiring an additional 9,571 shares during the period. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 26,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,670,000 after purchasing an additional 2,025 shares during the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 40.8% during the 4th quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 15,978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,590,000 after acquiring an additional 4,633 shares during the period. Finally, Apella Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 9,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $942,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Daiwa America lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Leerink Partners lowered 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $121.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $100.20 on Thursday. 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. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a market cap of $253.47 billion, a PE ratio of 21.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $100.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $110.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.81 dividend. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend 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.