Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Shares Acquired by Matrix Trust Co

Matrix Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,768 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 808 shares during the period. Matrix Trust Co’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,569,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 12.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 16,049,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,759,800,000 after buying an additional 1,836,505 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.6% during the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 63,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,211,000 after buying an additional 8,985 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.8% during the third 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 during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,837,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $208,649,000 after purchasing an additional 62,047 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.3% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,102,540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,204,000 after purchasing an additional 34,715 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

MRK opened at $99.34 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $251.29 billion, a PE ratio of 20.83, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $94.48 and a twelve month high of $134.63. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $100.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $110.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 67.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MRK shares. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of 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. HSBC upgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of 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. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $124.00.

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.