Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 818 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 14.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,666 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 818 shares during the period. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $663,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 33.8% during the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 93,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,550,000 after buying an additional 23,589 shares during the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 121.8% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 326 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 1,050,486 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,357,000 after acquiring an additional 35,627 shares during the last quarter. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter worth $241,000. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 19.3% in the second quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 7,806 shares of the company’s stock valued at $966,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on MRK. HSBC upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $123.00 to $113.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $96.57 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $244.28 billion, a PE ratio of 20.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $99.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $109.11. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $94.48 and a twelve month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (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 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. 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.