Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 6.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,928 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 840 shares during the quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,286,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kelleher Financial Advisors boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Kelleher Financial Advisors now owns 6,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $603,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 223,055 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236 shares during the last quarter. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. now owns 4,864 shares of the company’s stock valued at $484,000 after acquiring an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 82.0% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 6,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $633,000 after acquiring an additional 2,869 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Viking Fund Management LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 63.9% in the 4th quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC now owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,948,000 after acquiring an additional 39,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MRK shares. Guggenheim dropped their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. HSBC raised 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 research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $136.00 to $105.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. One equities 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.5 %

MRK opened at $95.72 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $242.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $99.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.20. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.81 dividend. 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. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.