Consilio Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Consilio Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 8.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,259 shares of the company’s stock after selling 201 shares during the quarter. Consilio Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $225,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $689,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group boosted its holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 6,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $613,000 after acquiring an additional 909 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 21.5% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 35,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,530,000 after acquiring an additional 6,283 shares during the last quarter. Talbot Financial LLC grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 95,426 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,493,000 after acquiring an additional 3,906 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 255,649 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,618,000 after acquiring an additional 2,278 shares during the last quarter. 76.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $136.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $130.00 to $123.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. One investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $123.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Up 1.7 %

MRK opened at $100.94 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $100.16 and a 200-day moving average of $110.36. The stock has a market cap of $255.34 billion, a PE ratio of 21.16, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.39. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.47 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Increases Dividend

The business 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 is a boost from Merck & Co., Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s payout ratio 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.