Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida Increases Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 106.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,388 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,809 shares during the period. Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $735,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. now owns 79,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,911,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares during the last quarter. Doliver Advisors LP grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 24.9% in the 4th quarter. Doliver Advisors LP now owns 16,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,626,000 after acquiring an additional 3,260 shares during the last quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. now owns 177,365 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,644,000 after acquiring an additional 1,382 shares in the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic raised its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 58.5% during the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 32,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,233,000 after acquiring an additional 12,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,399,643 shares of the company’s stock valued at $933,761,000 after purchasing an additional 422,382 shares in the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Daiwa America downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $132.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $126.57.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of MRK stock traded up $0.58 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $99.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,069,915 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,112,774. 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 capitalization of $252.26 billion, a PE ratio of 20.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $111.68. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $94.48 and a 12-month high of $134.63.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a $0.81 dividend. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. 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.