First National Bank Sioux Falls Sells 456 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

First National Bank Sioux Falls cut its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 14.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,760 shares of the company’s stock after selling 456 shares during the quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls’ holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $275,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,501,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.4% during the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 234,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,973,000 after purchasing an additional 3,127 shares during the period. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the second quarter worth about $767,000. Marble Harbor Investment Counsel LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marble Harbor Investment Counsel LLC now owns 71,966 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,909,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 30.9% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,969,433 shares of the company’s stock valued at $367,616,000 after buying an additional 701,481 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley dropped 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. HSBC upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $100.94 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. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $94.48 and a one year high of $134.63. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $110.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $255.34 billion, a PE ratio of 21.16, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s 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.