Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC Reduces Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC trimmed its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 55.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,636 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,613 shares during the period. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $361,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. AM Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. during the third quarter valued at $34,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the third quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. in the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 report on Friday, November 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Leerink Partners reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays decreased their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 2.7 %

NYSE:MRK opened at $98.00 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $100.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $110.06. 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. 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 $247.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted 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. 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.81 dividend. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date 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 (DPR) is presently 67.92%.

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.