M Holdings Securities Inc. Lowers Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

M Holdings Securities Inc. cut its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 69.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,408 shares of the company’s stock after selling 35,264 shares during the period. M Holdings Securities Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $1,750,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 21.9% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 1,887,812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $214,425,000 after acquiring an additional 339,724 shares in the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 102,663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,658,000 after purchasing an additional 7,064 shares during the period. Certified Advisory Corp raised its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 6,403 shares of the company’s stock valued at $727,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Keyes Stange & Wooten Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Keyes Stange & Wooten Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $878,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. Finally, Leelyn Smith LLC boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% during the third quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC now owns 37,836 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,297,000 after purchasing an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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 note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Guggenheim reduced 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 report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.86.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 0.7 %

MRK stock opened at $99.17 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $250.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.40. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $94.48 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $107.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $117.92. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.07. The company 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This is an increase 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 3.27%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 64.57%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

Merck & Co, Inc operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, and diabetes under the Keytruda, Bridion, Adempas, Lagevrio, Belsomra, Simponi, and Januvia brands, as well as vaccine products consisting of preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines under the Gardasil/Gardasil 9, ProQuad, M-M-R II, Varivax, RotaTeq, Live Oral, Vaxneuvance, Pneumovax 23, and Vaqta names.