Crescent Sterling Ltd. Has $647,000 Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Crescent Sterling Ltd. reduced its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 7.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,508 shares of the company’s stock after selling 513 shares during the period. Crescent Sterling Ltd.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $647,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Clark & Stuart Inc acquired a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the fourth quarter worth $9,255,000. Matrix Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 15,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,569,000 after buying an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 548,475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,562,000 after acquiring an additional 32,108 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC grew its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 32,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,243,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RMR Wealth Builders increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 26,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,650,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on MRK. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and issued a $110.00 price target (down from $130.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. 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 stock from $136.00 to $105.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $124.00.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK opened at $99.34 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market cap of $251.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $100.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $110.57. Merck & Co., Inc. has a one year low of $94.48 and a one year high of $134.63.

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 the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 EPS for the current year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.