Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Stock Holdings Cut by Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC

Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,518 shares of the company’s stock after selling 128 shares during the quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 51,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,359,000 after acquiring an additional 1,247 shares during the last quarter. Certified Advisory Corp lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 6,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $761,000 after acquiring an additional 554 shares during the last quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 26,897 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,330,000 after acquiring an additional 920 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 32.5% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,584,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $319,922,000 after acquiring an additional 634,194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 1.8 %

Merck & Co., Inc. stock opened at $96.18 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $243.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.16, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $99.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.42. 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 current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MRK. Citigroup cut their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $121.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.00.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

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.