Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton Decreases Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton reduced its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 10.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,215 shares of the company’s stock after selling 375 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $320,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MRK. Global Financial Private Client LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 20,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,064,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $960,000 after purchasing an additional 637 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,087.8% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 10,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,036,000 after purchasing an additional 9,938 shares during the period. Cullen Investment Group LTD. increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 98,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,755,000 after buying an additional 2,084 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $861,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Daiwa America lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Leerink Partners cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Citigroup lowered their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:MRK opened at $99.70 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $94.48 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $100.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $110.19. The company has a market cap of $252.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. This is a positive change from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio is presently 67.92%.

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.