Walker Asset Management LLC Buys 118 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Walker Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,735 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the quarter. Walker Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $272,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 16,049,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,759,800,000 after buying an additional 1,836,505 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 63,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,211,000 after acquiring an additional 8,985 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,807,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,135,785,000 after acquiring an additional 514,060 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,837,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $208,649,000 after purchasing an additional 62,047 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.3% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,102,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,204,000 after purchasing an additional 34,715 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of MRK opened at $98.00 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $100.11 and its 200-day moving average is $110.06. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $247.91 billion, a PE ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $94.48 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Daiwa America downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Daiwa Capital Markets cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. 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 Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $136.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.