Hoese & Co LLP Has $121,000 Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Hoese & Co LLP grew its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 35.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,218 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 316 shares during the quarter. Hoese & Co LLP’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $121,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.0% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 199,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,739,000 after buying an additional 7,641 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 112,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,873,000 after acquiring an additional 8,269 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.1% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 521,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,581,000 after acquiring an additional 34,574 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.5% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 51,369 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,359,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $136.00 to $105.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Leerink Partners cut their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $98.00 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $100.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.61. The company has a market capitalization of $247.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period last year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.92%.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.