Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas Has $32.83 Million Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas reduced its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 329,991 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,651 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. makes up approximately 1.9% of Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas’ portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas’ holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $32,827,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC now owns 65,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,498,000 after buying an additional 3,751 shares during the period. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 47,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,735,000 after purchasing an additional 3,410 shares in the last quarter. Insight Inv LLC raised its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 19,793 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,014 shares during the period. Advocate Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Advocate Group LLC now owns 81,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,069,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Monte Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Monte Financial Group LLC now owns 54,618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,433,000 after buying an additional 6,592 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MRK. Leerink Partners lowered 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. BMO Capital Markets cut Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $136.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Daiwa America lowered shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.1 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $95.54 on Friday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $94.48 and a one year high of $134.63. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $99.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.81. The company has a market capitalization of $241.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.03, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39. 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 released its quarterly 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. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.81 dividend. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 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.