Eldred Rock Partners LLC Raises Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Eldred Rock Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 102,848 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up 3.4% of Eldred Rock Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Eldred Rock Partners LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $10,184,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 119,026,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,606,360,000 after acquiring an additional 1,536,474 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 75,809,383 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,608,914,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,404 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,155,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,696,060,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,296 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in 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 valued at $2,135,785,000 after purchasing an additional 514,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.8% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 17,756,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,016,374,000 after buying an additional 309,656 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MRK. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Daiwa America lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment 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.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 2.7 %

NYSE:MRK opened at $98.00 on Monday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $94.48 and a one year high of $134.63. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $100.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $109.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $247.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. 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. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

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

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.