Wright Investors Service Inc. Sells 9,695 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Wright Investors Service Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 45.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,703 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,695 shares during the quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,164,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. AM Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup decreased their target price 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. HSBC upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Leerink Partners reduced their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK 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 1 year low of $94.48 and a 1 year high of $134.63. The company has a market cap of $255.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.16, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $100.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $110.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio 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.