Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC Has $3.93 Million Stock Holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 39,504 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 814 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $3,930,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRK. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 75,809,383 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,608,914,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,404 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,876.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,971,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,450,000 after buying an additional 2,946,742 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 157.9% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 4,264,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $484,231,000 after buying an additional 2,610,800 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 68.7% in the third 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 grew its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,155,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,696,060,000 after acquiring an additional 2,134,296 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Leerink Partners reduced their price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $136.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $121.00 price target 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 issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of MRK stock opened at $90.99 on Wednesday. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.33 and a 12 month high of $134.63. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $99.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $107.37. The firm has a market cap of $230.16 billion, a PE ratio of 19.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.38. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.85 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $15.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.51 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.03 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 28th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.