Bremer Bank National Association Buys 14,267 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Bremer Bank National Association raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 38.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 51,697 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,267 shares during the period. Bremer Bank National Association’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,143,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MRK. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.0% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 199,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,739,000 after acquiring an additional 7,641 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 788.1% in the second quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 176,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,894,000 after acquiring an additional 156,935 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 8.0% in the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 112,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,873,000 after acquiring an additional 8,269 shares in the last quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.3% in the second quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 9,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,236,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.1% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 521,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,581,000 after acquiring an additional 34,574 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Leerink Partners decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Daiwa America downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 2.7 %

MRK opened at $98.00 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $247.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $100.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $109.72. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $94.48 and a one year high of $134.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders 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 of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. Company 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.