Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC Acquires 3,410 Shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 47,598 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,410 shares during the quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $4,735,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MRK. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 3,327,404 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,876.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,971,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,450,000 after acquiring an additional 2,946,742 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 157.9% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 4,264,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $484,231,000 after acquiring an additional 2,610,800 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 68.7% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,388,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $611,924,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194,463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% in 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 period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of MRK stock opened at $95.54 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $99.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $108.81. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $94.48 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $241.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.81 dividend. This is an increase from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Leerink Partners decreased their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. 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 note on Friday, October 25th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein started 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 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have given 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 price target of $123.00.

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.