Ballentine Partners LLC Sells 2,667 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Ballentine Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 63,509 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,667 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $6,318,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. HSBC raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $136.00 to $105.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Daiwa America cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 2.7 %

NYSE:MRK opened at $98.00 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $100.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $109.61. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $94.48 and a 1-year high of $134.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $247.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. 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 company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors 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. 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 payout ratio is currently 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.